On June 29, 2024, the police intervened to end a fight on Rue de Saint-Pierre in Lorient. What was then a simple intervention to restore calm ended with the arrest of a 30-year-old man from Lorient, who had himself alerted the police.
That evening, he explains putting away his groceries in his apartment when the doorbell rings. Two individuals provoke him and start a confrontation for reasons which have not been clarified by the court. He then took refuge in a neighbor’s apartment and contacted the police.
Arriving on the scene around 8:15 p.m., police asked everyone to go home. The Lorient resident, who had just been attacked, lost his temper and insulted the police. He is arrested by the police and taken into custody.
Two different versions
From that moment on, the versions differ. The police accused him of insults and violence, including “repeated headbutts”. The defendant denied all the charges against him: “None of it is true”. He went even further and accused the police of violence against him. A repeat offender, he had already been convicted multiple times by the courts, mainly for violence and theft.
Despite his numerous convictions, the defendant and his lawyer, Julie Oger-Bayere, insisted on his reintegration. Since his release from prison in 2019, he explains that he has “lived by getting by”, for a long time on the street. Currently, he is employed under an integration contract and repairs household appliances.
By insisting on the fact that this was his fourth appearance for contempt, the court sentenced the defendant on Monday, July 1st. He was found guilty of all the charges against him and sentenced to 18 months in prison, 12 of which were suspended, with an obligation to work, receive treatment and reimburse the victims. However, his prison sentence was extended to include semi-liberty from July 8th, to allow him to go to work.
