“We see each other from time to time, it seems to me. » This Thursday, October 10, Olivier Lalande, president of the criminal hearing of the Saintes judicial court, faces a regular. Incarcerated at the Saintes remand center, Théo Dallet, 21 years old, five entries in his criminal record, presents himself under escort. His cumulative sentences only offer him a release by March 2027. At the end of the hearing, he risks seeing this prospect further postponed.
Justice accuses him of having set fire to two skips and five cars, on the night of December 29 to 30, 2023, in Saint-Jean-d’Angély, rue du Jeu de Billes, quai Saint-Jacques and place de l’Aumônerie. A second young man appears, free, for the same facts. The day before, four other cars had been set on fire but these were not the events that were judged, although one of the victims found himself at the hearing and in fact had his claims for compensation rejected.
“Did that amuse you?” »
It’s very difficult to know why the young people undertook to move dumpsters as close as possible to the cars and set them on fire with gasoline… “Did that amuse you?” » tries a judge. “At the moment yes,” supposes Théo Dallet. The other defendant minimizes his involvement: he was present but did not set fire to the trash cans. The films found on his phone and the testimonies contradict this.
Anne Couplan, for the Public Prosecutor’s Office, recalls that during his arrest, not far from the fire, the gendarmes found him with a lighter in his pocket and a pair of gloves which smelled burnt. She is asking for a sentence of eighteen months in prison, suspended for two years.
For Théo Dallet, it requires three years of imprisonment, two of which will be suspended for two years and a ban on appearing in Charente-Maritime. After withdrawing, the court fully followed the prosecution’s requisitions and ordered the two defendants to compensate the four victims for a total amount of 9,360 euros for material and moral damage.
