Around twenty heavily armed soldiers, vans, a completely cordoned off neighborhood… This Friday, November 8, the man who had taken refuge in his home in Castelnau-de-Médoc at the end of September was found guilty by the Bordeaux criminal court of violence aggravated and death threats towards three firefighters when they came to help him.
On September 24, around 3 p.m., the mother of this 41-year-old man, suffering from bipolar disorder, called the firefighters after receiving worrying messages from him. Arriving on site, the team made up of three firefighters entered his home and discovered him heavily intoxicated. Returning to the kitchen, he comes out with a knife in his hand, pointing it towards the emergency services and even planting it in a cushion held out by a firefighter as a makeshift shield. Succeeding in escaping and locking him inside, the firefighters then asked for backup. A large force of around twenty gendarmes had been deployed in the small town and the madman arrested a few hours later, around 8 p.m.
Alcohol and diseases
“I wasn't myself, I totally lost it,” the defendant murmurs on the stand, assuring that he “doesn't remember anything” and saying that he is “sincerely sorry”. He also explains that at the time of the facts he had stopped his treatment for his bipolar disorder for three weeks and drank at least one bottle of whiskey. Alcohol and its multiple health problems were also at the center of the debates during the hearing. In addition to his bipolarity, the man, who has not worked since he was 33, is fighting Huntington's disease, resulting in neurological degeneration.
“He doesn't do much except buy cigarettes and alcohol, and is totally affected by this illness which also killed his father,” explains Me Smagghe, his lawyer, asking for release. While his trial was initially scheduled to take place in immediate appearance on September 27, it was postponed due to his absence, causing, according to his lawyer, “a crisis of alcohol withdrawal”.
An aggravating circumstance
“Being intoxicated is no longer a mitigating but an aggravating circumstance,” notes Marc Fritsch, president of the hearing. You could have seriously injured, or worse, firefighters who came to the base to help you. »
For his part, Me Guillaume Sapata, lawyer for the plaintiffs, considered the facts “serious”. “We still had several stab wounds in this pouf. We are dealing with someone with a serious alcohol addiction problem. He himself says that he is aggressive when he drinks. » According to the psychiatric expertise, despite severe alcohol intoxication, the expert noted neither alteration nor abolition of discernment, which his lawyer disputes.
The public prosecutor requested two years of socio-judicial monitoring and a treatment injunction. The forty-year-old was finally sentenced to ten months' imprisonment with a two-year probationary suspension, a medical injunction and a ban on carrying a weapon for five years. He does not plan to appeal.
