Yverdon: young autistic person tried for the assassination of his brother

A young man suffering from autism appeared at the Yverdon court on Wednesday for the murder of his brother. At the heart of the drama are a total loss of bearings during confinement and an overconsumption of video games and TV series.

So completely confused, overwhelmed by his emotions, the young Vaudois attacked his younger brother, also suffering from autism, one afternoon in April 2020. He took him to a forest near Yverdon , where he hit him with an ax before setting him on fire.

The public prosecutor requested six years in prison, a sentence which was not contested by the lawyers of the parents and the defendant. Everyone agreed on “the very particular circumstances” of this case and the need to take care of this man in his twenties in a closed institution.

Loss of bearings

On Wednesday before the Criminal Court, the parents spoke of a “double tragedy”, of having lost “two children at once”. They said they hoped for “human justice” to offer “prospects” to their eldest, who has been in pre-trial detention for 4 years.

They also returned to “the distress” in which their son found himself during semi-confinement, to the sudden loss of “the crutches” which allowed him, before the arrival of Covid-19, to live with his disability.

Prosecutor Laurence Brenlla also underlined this “need for benchmarks”, “ritualized activities” among autistic people. In this case, the defendant was “suddenly cut off” from everything that made up his daily life: his work, his visits to his grandparents, his outings to go karting or to McDonald’s.

“Inner tension” built up, without him managing to evacuate it or verbalize it, until it exploded the afternoon he killed his brother. “He literally lost his temper,” said his lawyer Aude Vouillamoz.

To the confinement linked to autism was added that of semi-confinement, added the parents’ lawyer, Gilles Monnier. He also returned to the “cataclysm” experienced by the defendant when he lost “all his bearings”.

“The Devil” in the head

The two lawyers insisted on the non-violent personality of the young man – “a good dough” – but also on the repercussions of an “overconsumption” of video games and TV series during this period of semi-confinement

Evoking titles like “Agents of Shield” and “GTA 5”, they notably recounted an interview during which the defendant, to whom the police had given a console and controllers, had “reproduced” his crime at the same time as he was playing.

“He no longer saw the difference between fiction and reality. There was mimicry, it’s obvious,” said Mr. Vouillamoz.

In his words, the defendant also described his psychological state at that time. “I never wanted to kill my brother. I was brainwashed, I had the Devil in my head,” he declared at the end of the hearing.

Therapeutic care

For prosecutor Laurence Brenlla, the defendant’s fault is “extremely serious”, but it must be examined “in the light of” a “significant” reduction in responsibility, as has been demonstrated by two psychiatric expertise.

The qualification of assassination and the required sentence of six years are “relatively unimportant” compared to what will have to be put in place for the future, she added. She requested, as a measure, institutional care in a closed environment, so that the twenty-year-old is “surrounded in a secure environment”.

Speaking in unison, the prosecutor and lawyers spoke of a “very emotional” case, handled “with humanity”, which now needed a criminal conclusion which would allow the family and the accused “to move forward and rebuild themselves”. The judgment will be communicated to the parties in the coming days.

ATS

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