Death of Antoine Alléno: eight years in prison required for the driver who killed him

The prosecutor on Thursday requested an eight-year prison sentence accompanied by a committal warrant against Franky D., accused of having killed, drunk at the wheel of a high-powered car, the son of chef Yannick Alléno , a trial which puts the question of “road homicide” at the heart of the debates.

“He who does the maximum deserves the maximum,” said the prosecutor to the defendant, before the Paris Criminal Court. He also requested a ten-year driving ban against him.

On the evening of May 8, 2022, Antoine Alléno, 24, leaves the restaurant where he works and brings back his colleague, Anisa, on a scooter. While they are waiting at a red light, they are hit by Franky D., without a license, at the wheel of an Audi RS6.

Antoine Alléno succumbs to his injuries, Anisa is only injured.

The investigation showed that Franky D., driving the vehicle stolen just before, had been traveling at 120 km/h in the streets of the 7th arrondissement, limited to 30. He first hit a VTC then a taxi and lost control of the large displacement that hits the two-wheeler. Fleeing on foot, he was quickly arrested.

“One of the happiest evenings of my life turned into a nightmare,” says passenger Anisa at the helm. That evening, Antoine attached his helmet to her before attaching “his,” she says.

One of Franky D.'s lawyers, Alexandre Simonin, said he doubted the proper fastening of the driver's helmet, found several meters away.

After the requisitions, the lawyer pleads the “risk” of “judicial error” and is alarmed by the certain “social death” of his client.

In the courtroom earlier, the hesitant voice of his client, Franky D., a member of the Traveler community, contrasted with his imposing build.

“I recognize all the facts” except the violence, said the 27-year-old man, accused by a valet of having punched him when he stole the car leaving a restaurant where he had spent the evening. evening.

Franky D. cites his excessive alcohol consumption – checked around two hours after the incident with 1.56 g/l of alcohol in his blood – to explain his memory lapses.

“It's not credible, you drank half as much as you say (…) and at that level, we don't lose our memory,” retorts Basile Ader, one of the lawyers for the Alléno family. .

His responses, even fragmentary, show that he is “aware of the pain and harm” caused, assures Joseph Cohen-Sabban, another lawyer for Franky D.

“I don’t particularly like speed but I like big cars,” admits the defendant. In 2018, he lost his license for speeding. He passed it again successfully a year and a half ago.

“I did the irreparable,” regrets this father of two little girls. He assures that, without alcohol, “this would never” have happened.

“Alcohol is not a mitigating circumstance,” retorts Valérie Munoz-Pons, one of the lawyers for the civil parties, affirming that if it had been a “simple accident,” “he would not have fled.”

Listening to the testimonies of the civil parties, Franky D. like his two co-defendants, prosecuted for theft in a meeting, remain prostrate.

For René A., 47 years old, the prosecutor requires six months of imprisonment and nine months suspended for Sniper G., 20 years old.

Franky D., who appeared free under judicial supervision, is being prosecuted for involuntary manslaughter, with at least two aggravating circumstances. The man who already had six convictions on his criminal record at the time of the tragedy faces ten years of imprisonment and 150,000 euros in fines.

Since this tragedy, Yannick Alléno has become an ardent defender of the creation of an offense of “road homicide”, a bill which was to pass a second reading in the National Assembly, before dissolution in June.

The family created the Antoine Alléno association to help those who have lost a loved one to road violence.

The decision will be made on November 28.