He is a frail 70-year-old retiree with white hair who was sitting on the victims' bench this Thursday October 24, 2024 at the Charleville-Mézières court. On July 21, his life changed. That morning, when it was around 6 o'clock, a man bangs on the door of his house in Fumay, where he lives alone.
He finds himself facing Ludovic Torres, a homeless man looking for money. The man, drunk and under the influence of cocaine, threatens the pensioner with a chisel, enters the home and demands money. The retiree only has €10 at home. The man hits the victim several times. Medical reports state bruises, sores and abrasions on the face. The victim was given ten days of total work interruption.
A forced withdrawal of €250
Injured, the retiree then suggests to his attacker that they go and withdraw money from the ATM. The two men go with the victim's car to the Fumay ATM but it does not work. They then go to Revin to remove €250, the maximum amount that the retiree can withdraw each week.
The accused is then dropped off a little further on the way back to the victim's home. Returning home alone, the retiree tidies up his accommodation, then confides in a friend who decides to warn the retiree's daughter. It was she, around 10 a.m., who alerted the gendarmerie.
Investigators are on site and looking for witnesses. A neighbor and the newspaper carrier help identify the man that they both saw early in the morning in the streets of Fumay. DNA analyzes also make it possible to confirm the presence of Ludovic Torres at the home of the victim whom he did not know.
The victim's home ransacked
But the ordeal does not end there for the retiree. On July 23, again early in the morning, while the victim had gone to sleep with relatives, Ludovic Torres, accompanied by a Fumacien, an acquaintance, returns home.
Under the influence of alcohol and cocaine, both break into the house through a window. Ludovic Torres quickly gets angry and starts destroying everything in the home.
That's when his sidekick decides to leave, taking credit cards with him. He goes to the police to denounce themselves, return the credit cards and inform investigators of what is happening in Fumay's home.
On site, the gendarmes discovered that the accommodation was completely ransacked and that many objects were taken out in front of the house but no sign of Ludovic Torres who even forgot his backpack there. The gendarmes, who have his description, found him at the end of the day and took him into custody.
Money to buy alcohol
« I admit the facts, I was not in my normal state. The gentleman, I don't even know him, I apologize “, declared Ludovic Torres, who appeared detained. He explained that he was looking for money to buy alcohol, food and drugs.
His sidekick, who was being prosecuted only for the robbery in a meeting, explained that if he knew the victim, he did not know that he was in his home. His lawyer requested release of his client since he went directly to the police, returned the credit cards and informed of the burglary.
The prosecutor, for her part, described this file as “ odious “. She requested a 5-year prison sentence for Ludovic Torres and an 8-month suspended prison sentence for his partner.
A firm prison sentence
The court found Ludovic Torres guilty of all the charges against him. He is sentenced to a sentence of 42 months in prison. He remains in detention. He is prohibited from coming into contact with the victim and from going to Fumay for a period of 5 years.
The other defendant is acquitted for the events of July 21 and 22. He was found guilty for the acts of July 23 and was sentenced to six months suspended sentence. He is banned from having contact with the victim for 2 years.
