A 33-year-old man was sentenced, Friday in Besançon, to 20 years of criminal imprisonment for having “randomly” killed a young genius watch engineer whom he did not know, in 2021, during a delirious bout of cocaine .
ATS
The Doubs Assize Court found the young man guilty of the murder of Thomas Mercier, rejecting the abolition of his discernment, but retaining his impairment at the time of the events, in accordance with the demands of the prosecutor Claire Keller.
“I want to remain silent”: throughout his interrogation, the accused answered this sentence in a loop, to the dozens of questions asked by the Court and the lawyers. He remained impassive, his gaze fixed and empty, without giving any explanation for his actions.
Why did he kill Thomas Mercier, whom he did not know? His reasons remain “obscure”, in police custody, “he spoke of hallucinations”, notes the prosecutor. Now, (he) imposes his silence on us, unbearable”.
psychotic episode
But the parties agree that he acted during a delusional and mystical burst, a psychotic episode caused by the combined use of cannabis and cocaine two days before the murder.
On November 9, 2021, at around 11:30 a.m., the accused went to a building in downtown Besançon and randomly knocked on doors. Thomas Mercier, a brilliant watch engineer, recently graduated from the Ecole des Mines de Paris and living in Besançon for a month, opened the door.
The 30-year-old was then sprayed with tear gas, pushed inside his apartment and knocked unconscious with an Italian coffee maker. He collapsed on the ground before being finished off with 22 scissor blows, including a fatal one that pierced his lung and heart.
The attacker goes back to shower, change clothes and get a haircut. At the wheel of his car, he rushes into a police vehicle to flee.
During the afternoon, he will meet several people to whom he will say that he “knows the Devil”, “has seen God” and has “killed a man”, and is ready to kill others.
Drugged “in all conscience”
He was finally arrested by the police at 4:50 p.m. and immediately admitted the facts.
“There was indeed madness in (this) gentleman, before and after the facts, and I want it to be recognized,” forcefully pleaded his lawyer Me Catherine Bresson, demanding in vain that the jurors retain the abolition of his discernment.
“This man is not an irresponsible madman, but a man who took drugs in full knowledge of the effects that this had on his behavior. He is responsible for it,” argued for the civil party, Me Jérôme Pichoff, castigating his “factitious and useful amnesia.”
ATS
