First, a tragedy: the death of a 41-year-old man, Ishik Mohamad Bedris, from a head trauma on the afternoon of November 17, 2022. And an investigation entrusted to an investigating judge in Tours that is progressing slowly. Too much, considered the investigating chamber of the Orléans Court of Appeal (Loiret). Pody S., suspected of being the author of the fatal blow, was released after eighteen months in prison, Thursday, June 20.
“Since his indictment (in December 2022 for violence leading to death without intention of causing it), he was only questioned once and the magistrate makes no mention of any plans to summon him in the near future. While the complexity of the investigations required by this case is not greater than that of any criminal case […]pre-trial detention no longer appears justified”the court reasons in its judgment.
Placed under judicial supervision and banned from appearing in Indre-et-Loire, Pody S. will remain free pending the closure of the investigation. “This must be seen as a rigorous application of the principles of pre-trial detention”greets Me Romain Profit, one of the defendant’s lawyers, joined by The New Republic.
A man on the ground, “with his eyes half open, who seems to be convulsing”
It is still too early to shed light on the origin of the tragedy that took place in front of Le Croissant de Lune, a snack bar on Avenue de Grammont in Tours, where a handful of night owls had gathered after leaving a nightclub on November 6, 2022.
What transpires from the ongoing investigation is the dispute that allegedly opposed Ishik Mohamad Bedris to Pody S. “for some triviality, perhaps a women’s story”they whisper behind the scenes. And the image described by the emergency services on their arrival on the scene of a man “on the ground, eyes half-open, not responding to our questions and appearing to be convulsing”.
At the end of the month spent being sought by the police, Pody S., 32, turned himself in at the beginning of December 2022. Since then, he has always denied having carried the hook which would have precipitated the Sudanese refugee head first against the sidewalk. The two men would have fought each other, kept at a distance from each other by holding each other by the collar. A slip would be mentioned by the defense, to support the accidental theory.
Third party intervention
On this point, investigators have CCTV footage and two testimonies from people close to the scene that night. They describe the dull sound of a punch, and point to Pody S. without having seen him formally, however.
This is where the issue lies in this case, which cannot ignore the possibility of a “violent intervention by a third party”, as suggested by the conclusions of the examination carried out on the remains at the forensic institute of Chambray-lès-Tours. Because “All the injuries cannot be explained solely by a fall: we can assume an impact to the left eye followed by a fall”counter the lawyers.
Transported in absolute emergency by the Samu, Ishik Mohamad Bedris had been plunged into a coma. He never woke up. If he were to be prosecuted one day before a criminal court, Pody S. would face a sentence of fifteen years in prison.
