“We trust you. But, from the slightest misstep, it will be incarceration,” declared to the four defendants the president of the immediate appearance hearing of the Coutances criminal court (Manche), Thursday November 7, 2024.
The judges, faced with the wish of three of the four defendants, aged between 19 and 21, to request time in order to prepare their defense, postponed their judgment until Thursday December 12, 2024, placing them under judicial supervision. The deputy prosecutor had previously requested the placement in pre-trial detention of three of the four men, “to a lifestyle rooted in delinquency”.
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Around thirty incidents of theft in meetings
Living in Agneaux, Condé-sur-Vire and Saint-Pierre-de-Semilly, they were arrested on Tuesday November 5. They were accused, escorted by ten gendarmes, of more than thirty acts of theft in meetings, fraud, damage, committed between February and June 2024.
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Period during which the quartet stole numerous liters of fuel by forcing car tanks, stole vehicles, stole various equipment and payment cards from vehicles. Cards that they used in pizza machines on several occasions.
“The scale of the file”
They were also accused of theft of chainsaws, mopeds, mechanical parts, drinks, as well as the damage to a condom dispenser. Agneaux, Condé-sur-Vire, Pont-Hébert, Remilly-les-Marais, Gavray-sur-Sienne, Canisy, Cérences, Saint-Clair-sur-l’Elle, Moon-sur-Elle, Airel… The list of municipalities that the quartet visited is long, as is the recall of all the facts by the president which lasted more than thirty minutes, in view of “the extent of the case”. The defense had argued against pre-trial detention, arguing that “their immaturity and a group effect”. Until December 16, the four defendants are required to work or take training, and are prohibited from contacting each other.
