Pierre Palmade was confronted with the story of the broken lives of the victims of the family of the car he hit, at the opening Wednesday of his trial in Melun for his serious road accident under drugs in Seine-et-Marne l 'last year.
Entering the court through a back door to escape the swarm of cameras, the 56-year-old comedian and television man sat on the dock with a pale face, sunken face, staring into space, wearing a black jacket. on a white shirt.
In front of him, the victims of the accident recounted their lives destroyed since the accident. In the car were the 38-year-old driver and his 27-year-old sister-in-law in the front, and the driver's six-year-old boy in the back. Their vital prognoses have been engaged.
“It is very difficult for me to be present today in this room, there is a lot of work being done with my psychiatrist,” declared the young woman, a former support worker for students with disabilities (AESH).
Six months pregnant at the time of the accident, she underwent an emergency cesarean section. Her unborn daughter, named Solin, was declared dead after 32 minutes of resuscitation, without giving any sign of extra-uterine life.
According to consistent case law from the Court of Cassation which has ruled on similar cases of road accidents, a child who is not born alive does not exist as a legal person.
“I am waiting for this jurisprudence to change and for Solin to be the key to bringing about this change,” declared the woman who is now the mother of a two-month-old daughter, after a “very painful pregnancy”.
In his opening remarks, the victims' lawyer, Me Mourad Battikh, hoped that Pierre Palmade would appear for manslaughter as the prosecutor had requested in his requisitions.
In May, the investigating judge dismissed the comedian solely for aggravated involuntary injuries.
– “Legal void” –
“French law, it is sad to say, protects animals better than the unborn child,” defended Mr. Battikh.
“Does the protection of life mean that we oppose abortion (voluntary termination of pregnancy)? That has nothing to do with it, there is a tight and impermeable border between the two” , argued the lawyer, recalling the legality of abortion from 0 to 14 weeks in France but evoking a “legal vacuum” for the rest of the development of the fetus.
Questioned by the president, Pierre Palmade refused to be tried for manslaughter.
Throughout the testimony, he remained focused, lips pursed as he described the after-effects at length.
Helped by a crutch, his left arm in a sling, Yuksel Yakut, driver of the Renault Mégane violently hit by the one driven by Pierre Palmade, sat with difficulty in front of the court.
“I won’t be able to go back to the way I was before,” he said through a Turkish interpreter.
His liver and intestines were affected and his hips remain very fragile. His pain pushes him to take medication in the morning.
“I was a team leader, I had friends, during the weekend I tried to enjoy with my children, my family (…), today I can no longer do this kind of thing,” said – he testified.
His son “is really not like before, he doesn't want to go out with his friends, he has repeated a year at school”, said the father, explaining that his child had more nightmares and was the victim of teasing because of this. of his jaw deformed following the accident.
On February 10, 2023 at the end of the day, Pierre Palmade had a large quantity of cocaine and 3MMC (a synthetic drug) in his blood when he got behind the wheel with two “bringue” companions, who were not prosecuted . On a road in the south of the department, his car collided with a vehicle coming in front.
One road accident among the 52,000 recorded in mainland France that year. But due to the notoriety of the accused, this collision will explode into a media storm of rare intensity, with cascading revelations about the lifestyle and addictions of this drifting artist.
Pierre Palmade is a repeat offender due to a conviction in 2019 for drug use. He faces a sentence of fourteen years' imprisonment and a fine of 200,000 euros.
