Ishe gained 10 kilos and ten years older. His white shirt sticks out from his navy blazer, now too fitted for his bloated body. He seems to be wearing a wig, as his hair is thick, exaggeratedly long and dark as if it wanted to challenge his hollow features and his sallow complexion.
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He looks like a sad clown, distraught at the idea of having to face a hostile “public”. Three judges, a prosecutor, two rows of civil parties and a full room (of journalists) face him. Huddled against his two lawyers, he gets up with difficulty when the president calls him to the stand for the usual pleasantries. “I am Pierre Palmade, born March 23, 1968 in Bordeaux.”
Saturated with sex and drugs
The comedian and actor is appearing for “aggravated injuries”, a year and a half after the accident he caused on February 10, 2023, shortly after 6 p.m. on a departmental road in Seine-et-Marne. He had gotten behind the wheel after three sleepless days and two nights, saturated with sex and drugs, minus the rock'n'roll.
The three people who were in the vehicle that he hit head-on, after losing control, were seriously injured. Crippled with pain, the driver lost the use of his right hand; he can no longer work and always uses a crutch to get around. Her son, now 7 years old, is prey to language disorders; he repeated his CE1 and his nights are filled with nightmares. Her sister-in-law (front passenger) lost the 6 and a half month old baby she was carrying, after an induced cesarean delivery upon her arrival at the hospital emergency room. And she doesn't get over it.
ALSO READ Trial of Pierre Palmade: the underside of a tragedyThe experts formally concluded that this child was “alive and viable” in utero but “in a state of death constituted at birth, after its extraction from the maternal uterine body”. This is why Pierre Palmade was not prosecuted for manslaughter.
“The offense of involuntary manslaughter only applies in the event of a child born alive,” recalled the investigating judge in his order, relying on “constant case law” of the Court of Cassation . “The principle of the legality of offenses and penalties, which imposes a strict interpretation of criminal law, precludes the incrimination of involuntary homicide from being applied to the case of a child who has not been born alive”, had judged the supreme court in a judgment of June 29, 2001, never denied despite some attempts at resistance by the courts of first instance.
Questionable arguments
The debates have not yet begun when Me Mourad Battikh, lawyer for the civil parties, has “observations to make”. This lawyer, whose face is familiar to us as we have seen him on all television sets, has a “proposal” to make to the defendant. Since on several occasions, Pierre Palmade expressed his remorse to the investigating judge – “I killed a baby and I feel like a murderer”, “I am responsible for the death of this child”, he confided to him – , Me Battikh today suggests that he incriminate himself.
“Perhaps he will agree to appear voluntarily for manslaughter, as the law allows? », suggests Me Battikh, turning towards the court. “We will then see if his statements are sincere,” he adds. The lawyer is convinced: “this hearing offers a window of opportunity” to put an end to “the dusty, absurd and totally irrelevant case law of the Court of Cassation”. “This doctrine is not gospel, there is a huge hole in the legal racket and we can fill it today,” he wants to convince.
ALSO READ Pierre Palmade “stopped everything”, swears his friend Jean-Marie BigardOffering himself an early plea, Mr. Battikh asks good questions – “why would ex utero breathing be necessary for a child to be considered as a person, as an “other”? » – but he responds with sometimes dubious arguments: “French law protects animals better than the unborn child. You run over a kitten, we chase you; the eggs of an endangered species are more valuable than a fetus. » Full of enthusiasm, he ends up saying anything: “To avoid being pursued, it is better to drive as quickly as possible because in the event of an accident, the unborn child will have less chance of being born alive. »
“The question does not have to be asked”
Asked to react, the prosecutor “sticks to the law”. “The investigating judge was informed of possible involuntary homicide [le parquet poussait dans ce sens, NDLR] and she dismissed the case. The authority of res judicata prohibits the court from taking up this offense.”
“No one appealed the order of the investigating magistrate. It was the only possible window of opportunity,” adds Me Céline Lasek, lawyer for Pierre Palmade. “Would your client have agreed to appear voluntarily for this offense? », Asks the president for all intents and purposes. “Indeed, he agreed but I objected. Legally, the question does not have to be asked,” replies Me Lasek.
The president asks it anyway: “Mr. Palmade, please come closer. Would you agree to appear voluntarily for the offense of manslaughter? Should this prevention be added? “. At a glance, Pierre Palmade consults his lawyer and sticks to a laconic “no”.
“I was in total denial”
Mila, the mother of this “stillborn” child who she cannot mourn, is invited to testify. The testimony of this dignified and slender young woman is poignant. Like her brother-in-law before her, she describes her fractures and her pain but we quickly understand that the most painful cracks are in her head. Since the accident, she has been plagued by a depression from which she cannot see the end, her relationship, although “closely united”, has come close to being “disintegrated” several times. “I no longer believed in this future together. Several times, I wanted to leave,” she confesses. “But my husband never gave up on me. »
Mila gave birth two months ago to a little girl who will never – and perhaps it is for the best – replace the child who was “taken away” from her, and whom she continues to call Solin. “My second pregnancy was very painful, with a lot of reminders of the first,” she confides.
“I was in total denial, I couldn't get attached to this new child. I also couldn't reconnect with my body. I love this baby very much but it is still very difficult for me to hold him in my arms. » Today, Mila “hopes that Solin will be the key to opening the path to change”. “I believe in French justice, I hope that it will not remain indifferent and that everything will be done as it should be. »
Addiction au « chemsex »
“Pierre Palmade, approach the bar,” commands the president after this moving testimony. “Do you have anything to say?” “. “I'm just devastated to see and hear the victims in real life; I was prepared for it but hearing their sadness knocked me down,” replies the fallen actor. “I would like to turn around to ask them for forgiveness but I know they don’t want it…” He turns around anyway: “Sincerely, sorry…”
Pierre Palmade looks back at length on this day of which he no longer has “any memory”. “I took this car, it was like an emergency dictated by the brain of the drug addict that I was. Drugs make you lose all sense of caution and legality, and I'm still devastated by what I did. »
Without ever victimizing himself, without any indulgence for himself, he recounts his addiction to “chemsex”, this “hellish search for products [cocaïne, CMC, Alpha-PHP et la redoutable 3-MMC qu’il s’injectait par voie intraveineuse jusqu’à dix fois par jour] and partners”.
“All this to have sex, in a crazy and crazy way. It’s not a party, it’s just hell,” he says. “We are never satisfied, we are like zombies, we practice sex until we are exhausted. Usually, we stop at fainting. » “I was very afraid that the little boy would die; the loss of this baby devastated me,” continues Pierre Palmade.
“Some crazy drug addict ran into them!” »
Me Batikh, who is now questioning him, mentions this “relapse” in a gay bar in Bordeaux, while he was under judicial supervision. “Have you thought about families? », he asks her. “This is completely scandalous! “, admits Palmade. “I'm not looking for excuses but I was a living dead person, with no future, I just wanted to clear my head and I couldn't see further than the next hour. That's the whole problem with drugs! The next day, I went back to the hospital begging them to take me back…”.
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He adds: “Drug addiction is much stronger than will and intelligence. I started doing cocaine at 21 to get rid of the embarrassment of being gay. I saw it as medicine when it's just poison. Since I was 35 [il en a aujourd’hui 56]I don’t want to do drugs anymore but that’s not enough…”
“Do you understand that the victims do not accept your apologies? », insists their lawyer. “I understand them, of course. A crazy drug addict crashed into them! Until the end of my life, I will continue to ask them for forgiveness…”
