A young man caught up in the spiral of drug trafficking appeared in court in Niort on Thursday, June 27, 2024, for possession of 11 kg of cannabis, as well as a few grams of cocaine and crack.
This substantial stock had been discovered by the gendarmes following an attack of which he had been the victim, in May 2023. Three hooded men had arrived at the home of the couple of friends who were hosting him, in a village south of Niort, looking for this drug: ” Where is she ? “ they shouted.
Injured, he escaped from the hospital
The young man was then on an electronic bracelet, serving a sentence for drug trafficking. During the attack, he was stabbed, as was his host. Four days later, he escaped from the hospital, before turning himself in a few days later. He has since been detained in Vivonne.
This drug hidden at his friends’ house had been entrusted to him “as a wet nurse”, against the erasure of a debt of €500, he explained to the judges. Did he resell some too? The judge notes the nocturnal comings and goings. “Friends who visited me”, the defendant replies. “What proves it to us? With your legal past, we ask ourselves questions…”
“Consistency in delinquency”
The young man has spent 14 months in detention since 2022. He asserts in court his desire to leave “get out as quickly as possible”He has not consumed drugs since the end of 2023 and wants to regain custody of his son.
More “everything suggests that he has not broken with the drug world,” estimates the deputy prosecutor, noting “consistency in delinquency since 2017 and the latest acts committed while he was wearing an electronic bracelet”. Requisitions: “No less than two years.”
“He wants to move on”
“He’s been into drugs for a long time but he wants to move on, on the contrary, M claimse Ambroise Garlopeau, he has cut ties with the world of drugs, which only brings him trouble for a little consumption in return. We can give him a chance to redeem himself”the lawyer argues, proposing to arrange the sentence with an electronic bracelet. An option rejected by the judges, with a sentence of 18 months in prison, which is added to the two currently served.
