End clap for an affair which had stirred up passions. On Friday, the Paris Court of Appeal acquitted the SNCF in the “Neko affair”, which saw a cat die crushed by a train on January 2, 2023, at Montparnasse station in Paris, reports France Bleu Gironde.
The 30 million Friends Foundation became a civil party and took the case to court. The cat had escaped from the bag of its owners, a mother and daughter from Bordeaux, and had taken refuge under the train, at track level. The SNCF did not want to postpone the departure time and take more time to rescue the animal.
Ordered to pay damages at first instance
A scene which logically traumatized Neko’s owners. “I was screaming, I was panicking, I was calling out to people,” the teenager said in The Parisian at the material time. Then our cat was executed. » The case caused a lot of talk in the media, with the mother even organizing a demonstration in Bordeaux.
In July 2023, SNCF was first ordered to pay damages for negligence. Having appealed this decision, the company was judged again since September 27. The prosecution had requested the acquittal of the SNCF, considering that no fault had been committed. The court of appeal therefore followed it.
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