The octogenarian, well known in the Riquier district, was attacked on January 24, Place Arson in Nice. The unfortunate woman died this Monday, June 24, her family announced to Nice-Matin. She was 81 years old. She died five months to the day after the terrible attack she suffered.
Fiona, the Shih Tzu, couldn’t stand her mistress’ ordeal. Claude Kojic’s faithful four-legged companion allowed himself to die and is no more.
On January 24, the octogenarian walked Fiona at Place Arson in Nice. It was there, around 9 a.m., that she had the bad encounter. A 28-year-old woman – who lives in the neighborhood – allegedly approached her very aggressively.
According to the testimony of the octogenarian, who was able to speak after the events, the attacker threw himself on her, grabbed her by the collar, telling her that she was “an old thing”, what “hated old people”. Then she pushed her back. Claude, helpless – she was wearing a knee prosthesis – fell backwards and smashed her skull. A seven centimeter long hematoma formed in his brain.
The attacker fled, but was arrested by the criminal brigade two days later. After 48 hours in police custody, the defendant was indicted for “intentional violence against a vulnerable person followed by permanent disability”. She confessed to the facts, but said she never wanted to get to that point. The courts released her, under judicial supervision. The scene took place under the eye of video surveillance cameras.
“We took life imprisonment”
Sandra Salas, Claude Kojic’s daughter, is torn. Shared between pain, anger and a form of relief despite everything. “It’s both a horrible moment and a moment of deliverance. My mother was in agony for five months. These last fourteen days, she went without eating, without drinking, without anything, just with the infusions. She wouldn’t leave, she held on. I communicated with her with my hand.” Rehospitalized, the octogenarian died this Monday.
Sandra Salas saw, at the same time, her mother’s dog waste away and also die. She is overwhelmed by emotions. “I have as much anger for the monstrosity who did this to him as I do for the justice system. Since the attack, it’s been ‘deal with it’, ‘deal with it’. The justice system has decided that the one who did this to him They could continue to live normally, in freedom. We took life sentences.”
Sandra Salas would like to highlight the work of the caregivers who accompanied her mother through this terrible ordeal. “Luckily they were there.”
An autopsy must be performed in the coming days. “In the inhumanity of justice I cannot even dispose of my mother’s body. I must have her autopsy so that justice can determine that she died following this gratuitous and inhumane attack. It is endless” , sighs Claude Kojic’s daughter.
Claude Kojic was for twenty years private secretary to Jean-Noël Grinda, the owner of the Westminster Hotel. She lived a modest but happy retirement, alongside her sister Liliane, in an apartment on Boulevard de Riquier. A neighborhood where she was known and appreciated.
A death which will modify the criminal classification
The death of Claude Kojic will obviously change the criminal aspect of the case. We no longer speak of “permanent infirmity”, but of death. When asked, the prosecution has not yet responded on this point. The indictment took into account the aggravating circumstance of the victim’s vulnerability.
In the event of the death of a vulnerable person, the penalty incurred can be up to 20 years in prison, or five years more. Justice will obviously have to determine whether the death was the result of injuries linked to the fall. A usual investigative act in this type of case.
The family’s lawyer, the Nice criminal lawyer Audrey Vazzana, reacts and indicates that “the victim’s daughter is waiting for justice to take stock of the seriousness of what happened and the consequences that followed”. Me Vazzana evokes a “gratuitous violence”.
According to the lawyer, “this little 81-year-old lady, totally independent before her attack, saw her life turned upside down when she crossed paths with someone who did not hesitate to attack her violently, without any legitimacy. Beyond having stolen the end of life of a totally autonomous person, we destroyed his life and that of his daughter, who helplessly witnessed the days and weeks of his mother’s agony”.
