There were seven of them indicted for murder and failure to report a crime on September 30 by the Bayonne public prosecutor’s office. Suspected of having participated in the murder of Patrice Laniès during the opening evening of the Bayonne Festival, all were released, with the exception of Jacques, 28, also known as Maïkeul, his third first name.
This amateur boxer, originally from the Paris region, is…
There were seven of them indicted for murder and failure to report a crime on September 30 by the Bayonne public prosecutor’s office. Suspected of having participated in the murder of Patrice Laniès during the opening evening of the Bayonne Festival, all were released, with the exception of Jacques, 28, also known as Maïkeul, his third first name.
This amateur boxer, originally from the Paris region, has been detained since September 29 in Mont-de-Marsan, in the Landes, from where he appeared by videoconference this Tuesday, June 4 before the Pau Court of Appeal, to request his release. On May 16, the Bayonne judge of freedoms and detention rejected his request.
Holiday drama
Jacques is suspected of having participated in the deadly attack on Patrice Laniès on July 26, 2023, in front of his home at 38, quai des Corsaires, in Bayonne. On this first holiday evening, the local resident had just reproached a man for urinating on his front door. Two friends approached and one of the members of the trio punched him violently in the head, which caused him to fall. His skull hit the pavement and the 46-year-old spent several days in a coma before his hemorrhagic brain damage led to his death on August 3.
The Bayonne judicial police heard five testimonies as part of the investigation, including an anonymous one who named “Mike” as the author of the punch. The defense of the latter criticizes a “vague rumor”.
Abandonment of the presumption of innocence
At the public prosecutor’s office, Pascal Bouvier requests that the young man be kept in detention. The attorney general deplores that Jacques “does not recognize the facts and therefore does not regret them”.
The defense protested that “the attorney general abandoned the presumption of innocence”. Of the two lawyers present, the first claims to be “on edge”, assuring “that an injustice has been committed” since her client “has nothing to do with the facts”. His colleague supports him: “Some people who are much more involved wanted to direct the file. »
The lawyers indeed return several times to the case of Menphis, 24 years old, the other main suspect in the case. “He was released even though there was material evidence against him, whereas you have nothing against [Jacques] », they plead.
“The hand that kills”
When Menphis was arrested, investigators noted that he was wearing a splint on his right hand. Consequence according to him of “too big a punch in a punching bag”, that same first evening of the Holidays. A fight at the beginning of September ended up fracturing his hand. Telephone tapping did not dispel doubts. The young man speaks one day of “the hand of Bayonne” and another “the hand that kills”.
Until May 3, the date of the last confrontation of the suspects, all maintained their version, namely that they knew who was the author of the fatal blow, but refused to say it. “Culturally, we cannot,” we learn in the file.
Questioned last, the last detainee says from the screen: “These people are not my friends. I don’t know why they say I was with them at the scene, that wasn’t the case. » The Court of Appeal will deliver its judgment on June 7.
