The Melun criminal court sentenced Pierre Palmade this Wednesday evening to five years in prison, including two years, for the serious road accident he caused while under the influence of drugs. The prosecution's requisitions were followed.
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After a full hour of deliberation, the Melun court found the comedian guilty of involuntary injuries to a family in the collision he caused on a road in Seine-et-Marne on February 10, 2023 while driving under the influence. of narcotics. He was sentenced to 5 years of imprisonment, including two years.
He nevertheless emerged free from the Melun court. He will serve his sentence at a later date. “You will very soon be summoned by the Bordeaux prosecutor (where he now resides, editor's note) who will determine the date and the penitentiary establishment in which you will serve two years of detention.“, explained the president of the court to the accused.
The court followed the prosecution's requisitions. “It is indeed the misconduct of Mr. Pierre Palmade which is the direct cause of all the damage suffered by the victims.“, prosecutor Marie-Denise Pichonnier declared during her requisitions shortly after 6 p.m..”We cannot be too lenient when the damage has occurred and driving under the influence of drugs has caused a tragedy.“, she added.
The magistrate had requested five years in prison, two of which were closed, with a deferred committal warrant. She had also requested an obligation of care, the cancellation of her driving license with a ban on renewing one before 5 years, and compensation for the civil parties.
Also read: Pierre Palmade trial: where is the proposed offense of road homicide?
The prosecutor also highlighted “favorable elements”: “an acknowledgment of the facts from Mr. Pierre Palmade” Who “expressed his remorse very quickly“as well as the”scrupulous compliance with care obligations“, since a relapse in the summer of 2023 and a widely publicized nightclub outing.
During the hearing, Pierre Palmade said he was overwhelmed and asked the victims for forgiveness. “Mr. Y’s serious injuries and Mrs. C’s trauma. (who lost her six-month-old fetus, editor’s note), It knocked me down. I am truly overwhelmed, tested to see them in real life“, declared the 56-year-old artist on the stand for his first public expression in this highly publicized affair.
Pierre Palmade at the helm this Wednesday, November 20.
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© AFP
Turning towards the benches of the civil parties, his hand on his stomach, little childish eyes in the middle of a livid face, Pierre Palmade addressed them directly for their “ask for forgiveness from the depths of your being“. “I understand their anger. A crazy drug addict crashed into them, it's inexcusable“, conceded the comedian, who became a showbiz pariah with this affair which revealed to the general public the dark side and decline of an artist stuck for years in his drug addiction, to the point of no longer being able to work.
In the morning, the comedian was confronted in the courtroom with the story of the broken lives of the victims of the family of the car opposite.
In addition to the actor, the accident left three people from the same family seriously injured: a 38-year-old man, his six-year-old son and his 27-year-old sister-in-law, who lost the baby she was waiting.
Six months pregnant at the time of the accident, the woman sitting in the front passenger seat underwent an emergency cesarean section. Her unborn daughter, named Solin, was declared dead after 32 minutes of resuscitation, without giving any sign of extra-uterine life.
“It is very difficult for me to be present in this room today, there is a lot of work being done with my psychiatrist“, declared the one who is now the mother of a two-month-old daughter, after a “very painful pregnancy“.
According to consistent case law from the Court of Cassation which has ruled on similar cases of road accidents, a child who is not born alive does not exist as a legal person.
Also read: Pierre Palmade trial: “He transformed our life into hell. I want him to pay for what he did”, the comedian's trial opens this Wednesday
With his left arm in a sling, advancing towards the bar with infinite slowness while leaning on a crutch, driver Yuksel Y. described his new life circumscribed by pain and injuries. “I was a team leader, I had friends, during the weekend, I tried to enjoy with my children, my family (…), today, I can no longer do this kind of thing“, he testified through a Turkish interpreter.
“The civil parties are satisfied with the holding of the debates” their lawyer, Mourad Battikh, told France Info this Wednesday evening, after leaving the criminal court hearing. “Everyone was able to give their point of view, everyone was able to express what they felt before during and after this dramatic day, and with that we are satisfied“, added Mourad Battikh, who said he had no comment to make on the conviction.
