Philippe B. returns to the box of the Assize Court of Seine-et-Marne, in Melun, this Wednesday, nine months after having entered there. This 58-year-old father was due to appear before the criminal jury last February for attempted murder. But his trial had to be postponed due to the death of his father.
For three days, the accused will have to return to the shot he fired at one of his neighbors, in Pommeuse, on August 18, 2021. The atmosphere is likely to be very tense at the hearing between the families of the two men. When he turned himself in to the police on the evening of the tragedy, the Coulommiers police station saw many people rushing towards him, calling for revenge. So much so that Philippe B. had to be transferred to the Meaux police headquarters, for security reasons.
Will the Assize Court manage to unravel what really happened that evening, in front of his home? It was not quite 10 p.m. when the emergency services were alerted that a man, aged around thirty, had been seriously injured by a firearm, in Pommeuse, rue de la Cavée. When they arrived, he was bathed in blood and suffering from serious wounds to his stomach and thigh.
While the victim – whose vital prognosis is then in jeopardy – is transported to a Parisian hospital, Philippe B. presents himself at the Coulommiers police station – accompanied by his son – to denounce himself. He brought the juxtaposed double-barreled 12-gauge shotgun with which he shot the thirty-year-old.
It is an understatement to say that the investigations by Departmental Security investigators were complicated to carry out. Firstly because the crime scene had partly been cleaned up. Then because everyone, witnesses to the facts or not, tried hard to sometimes say anything. The young man who was the victim of the shooting had benefited from a 60-day criminal ITT and still suffers from serious physical and psychological after-effects.
Throughout the investigation, the accused insisted that he never wanted to kill the victim. He always explained that he was provoked by the thirty-year-old, who allegedly showed up completely drunk at his home. Making threats and insults. “The shot went off,” he reportedly explained. The ballistic assessments promise to be decisive in trying to understand what really happened. One thing is certain: neighborly relations between these two traveling families were already complicated before the tragedy.
