the essential
For this last week of the Aude Assize Court session, the Carcassonne courthouse has been hosting, since Monday, July 1, the examination of a case of homicide by screwdriver blows. The facts date back to the evening of July 29 to 30, 2021, when a fight between Nicolas Dufour and Jean-Christophe Baroudi broke out. The latter died in circumstances that remain to be determined.
The horrific scene took place in a small apartment in the city center of Castelnaudary. On the night of July 29 to 30, 2021, the police were contacted. The reason: the inert body of Jean-Christophe Baroudi found at his home. The man was shirtless, covered in blood, and suffering from a brain injury caused by, it seems, a screwdriver blow. He would die around 1:30 a.m. The main suspect: Nicolas Dufour, 29 at the time of the events, who was arrested around 2:20 a.m. by the police after trying to escape. Tasered to be subdued, the thirty-year-old subsequently tested positive for narcotics and blood alcohol levels, before being taken into custody in Béziers on October 13, 2021.
This Monday, July 1, 2024, the accused appeared at the Carcassonne courthouse, as part of the session of the Aude Assize Court with the examination of a “repeat murder”. While President Charles Pinarel was recounting the facts, Nicolas Dufour was asked to speak on the subject before hearing the first testimonies. He responded briefly: “I deny hitting this gentleman with a screwdriver. I did punch him.” A version that he has continued to support, particularly with the police, one of whose representatives (a police officer in Quillan, mobilized on the evening of the incident in Castelnaudary) confirmed the statements in court at the end of the day. Faced with the accused’s lack of loquacity, the president reminded him that he risked up to 30 years in prison.
The first witness to take the stand was the thirty-year-old’s mother, Martine Dufour. She presented a well-defined profile of her son: “He’s a generally calm boy. I tried to get him treated for his addictions (alcohol, narcotics, editor’s note) but once I was an adult I couldn’t force him to do it.” As a child, Nicolas Dufour encountered family problems, particularly with a father who beat him. At the age of 8-9, he was placed in a foster family by his mother, who did the same for his seven brothers and sisters. However, she chose to stay with the partner who also abused her until he died when the accused had just celebrated his 18th birthday. “This environment must have most certainly encouraged his addictions. He began consuming narcotics at the age of 13.”his mother stressed.
However, the idea of loss of control caused by his dependence on Jean-Christophe Baroudi was not enough, given that the two knew each other well. “Nicolas considered him as his brother, his cousin”said his sister, Marie-Laure Dufour, when she appeared at the bar. The latter was present on the evening of the tragedy: “I went to the apartment twice. The first time because I was asked to take care of him. He was threatening to hurt himself (Several times signs of scarification were observed on his forearms and during the night of July 29 to 30, 2021, Editor’s note)so I went there. The second time, Jean-Christophe called me to tell me that my brother had fallen into a coma. I ran with my son but once there I realized that it was false. Worse, I did not recognize him, he was in a state of uncontrolled rage. He tried to strangle my son, I pushed him away, we struggled before collapsing on the coffee table in the living room and breaking it. Once free of his grip, we left.”
In the summer of 2021, other witnesses were in the apartment, including the victim’s roommate and two friends. All were drunk. “Nicolas Dufour is someone who is very psychologically unstable. We see this with his romantic relationships, the most recent of which pushes him to have dark thoughts as soon as things go badly. His last refuge seems to be his mother in these moments.”estimated Françoise Gouvzvinski, psychologist in Carcassonne, to draw up her expertise.
