“I want this to end”

The atmosphere is heavy this Tuesday, January 7, 2025 in the courtroom of the criminal court of Saint-Nazaire.

On the stand, the man now 31 years old, his eyes red, his head lowered, speaks weakly, defends himself without a lawyer.

At the end of the victims' bench, the mamanwhose 23-year-old son lost his life on October 2, 2016, stares at him.

That morning, a little after 5 a.m., at the exit of a slight curve, on the departmental 97, linking Saint-Père-en-Retz to Clion-sur-Mer, to Pornic (Loire-Atlantique), the driver “saw the dog's eyes and the pedestrian too late,” he said, adding: “I was panicked, I let my car go into the ditch and called a friend.”

The victim was found at 45 meters from the point of impact. Emergency services were called some time later.

Heard 58 days after the facts, the accused could have gotten away with an appearance on prior admission of guilt (CRPC), without the persistence of the victim's mother, assisted by Me Benoît Poquet.

No braking

The defendant explains how he spent the evening with friends and at a discotheque. That morning he wanted to go home: “I thought I could drive.”

Although he is aware of being alcoholic and having made use of narcoticshe did not listen to his friends who advised him to sleep there and he got behind the wheel of his Volkswagen Polo.

Respecting the 90 km/h, five minutes later, tragedy struck, which made the president say: “If you had not been drunk and under the influence of narcotics, you think that your behavior would have been the even ? You didn't brake! “.

For his part, the victim had left the family home after a dispute with his mother.

While he was in the middle of the road to be picked up by hitchhiking to Nantes, two conductors had avoided it “by braking hard”.

Just as a gendarmerie patrolwho stated: “He smelled of alcohol, but did not appear drunk.” The soldiers advised him to pull to the side of the road.

Deadly cocktail

At the hearing, Me Poquet addresses the thirty-year-old: “We have been waiting for answers for a little over eight years, knowing that you got behind the wheel after drinking eight glasses of vodka, smoking five joints, a dash of cocaine, or a deadly cocktail. You disputed the facts until 2023, explain to us. »

Answer: “Because the gendarmes should have taken him away, even if I recognize my share of responsibility… I know my pain, so I understand that of the victim’s parents.”

I don't want to fight anymore, I didn't hire a lawyer, I want this to end.

As for the mother, she first thanks the judges for looking into this case: “I am angry, after the events, I alerted the newspapers, I wrote to the President of the Republic. Today he's being miserable, but I don't believe it, even if my son wasn't an angel.”

Near the legal fiasco

His lawyer continues: “So much suffering and misunderstanding, we came very close to a legal fiasco. The defendant's first custody lasted barely three hours, before being sent to the CRPC.

He emphasizes that three investigating judges followed one another before a dismissal, adding: “The last investigating judge saved the case”.

This is conceded by the prosecutor, who salutes the mother's determination which led to “putting the case back on track and investigating to get to the bottom of it”.

The magistrate makes an observation: “We are faced with this behavior of road traffic offenders who do not hesitate to get behind the wheel after having abused alcohol and drugs”.

He is stunned to see that since the events, the defendant has been convicted twice for driving after drug use.

The accused declared that he was still in treatment for his drug addiction, but that he no longer drank a drop of alcohol and no longer drove, having not gone to get his license following suspension.

The prosecution requested three years in prison, one of which was suspended for two years, a cancellation of his license and a ban on retaking it for two years.

The judgment will be rendered on 26 mars 2025.

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