Serge Tixier probably does not know it, but according to his speeches in front of the Var Assize Court before which he has been on trial since Monday for murderit draws the contours of a unique defense system: self-defense by anticipation.
A position which, in law, does not hold. But deep down, Serge Tixier is convinced: “If he took a knife out of his trunk, it wasn’t him or me. It was me.“
“I didn’t want him to pull out a gun.”
However, facing André Malecki this September 5, 2021 on the banks of the Issole in Garéoult, Serge Tixier, almost 57 years old, is the only one to have suffered stabbings.
Thirteen, including four fatalities. Never during this brawl, which lasted only two to three minutes, did the 52-year-old victim pull out a weapon or strike the slightest blow.
“When he saw my knife fall from my pocket after shoving me, he became mad with rage, maintains the accused. He said he was going to kill me and walked towards the trunk of his car. I saw he wasn’t bluffing. I stopped him two or three times from opening the trunk, but he managed to do it. He put his hand in it. It wasn’t to take out a bag of candy…“
If, at the bottom of the trunk, behind a folded tent and various objects, there was indeed a kitchen knife, André Malecki never had time to find it. “We still have to prove that this is what he was trying to take” raises the general advocate Mathilde Gauvain.
It was therefore out of fear that Serge Tixier struck the armpit – “I was aiming for the shoulder” – with a sharp blow, penetrating as far as the lung.
“I was shocked to see that it went in so easily, the accused recalled. He didn’t blink. He even put his hand back in the trunk. So I gave a second blow to the stomach, less forcefully.”
This one pierced the heart. The others, he doesn’t remember. “JI didn’t want him to pull out a gun. I didn’t want to wait.” – “So it’s his fault he died?” asks the general advocate. – “He said he was going to kill me! Should I have let him take out his knife? I didn’t attack him…“
Morbid conclusion to an absurd situation
This murder concluded an absurd episode of dispute over a missing blanket which, in the eyes of a victim who lived in his car, was of capital importance. “Question of principle” his son believes.
“It had been borrowed from him the day before at a party while he was sleeping because a friend was feeling unwell.says Serge Tixier’s daughter, then 17 years old. He contacted me because he wanted it back. We got along well. He was always very kind.“
Apart from a somewhat virulent SMS, all the exchanges written that day between the young woman and André Malecki were cordial. Not phone calls apparently.
“It exploded. I panicked and explained to my father” relates the daughter of the accused. “He would have been friendly by text message then vehement on the phone a minute later and courteous again by text message immediately, questions Mr. Régis Durand in the civil party. This contrast questions…“
“He thought he was a vigilante”
These SMS messages, Serge Tixier, describing himself as a “papa hen”, did not read them at the time. He also did not try to find out why this cover had been taken by his daughter’s friends, during a party in a place well known to local drug addicts. “If he hadn’t called, this would have ended differently.” simply believes Serge Tixier, who admits not having considered the scene from the victim’s point of view.
“He says he wanted to defend himself, but in fact he thought he was a vigilante” judges André’s son, with tears in his eyes.
The verdict will be delivered this Wednesday afternoon.
