Carcassonne. Assassination attempt in Albières: “At one point, she thought she was dead”

For his second day of trial before the Aude Assize Court, Christian Conte took refuge behind selective amnesia, when it came to discussing the attempted murder for which he must explain. For the record, it was on March 22, 2019 that the facts in question took place in Albières, in the heart of the Corbières massif. The day before, the 71-year-old accused had admitted the alleged facts in court, without us knowing what he was really admitting to.

But yesterday afternoon, the mask fell: “I admit to having attacked Madam. Yes, I am the author of the five gunshots fired at the door. But it was under the influence of alcohol. I was not myself that day, She was the one who attacked me first. Afterwards, it happened, it happened quickly!” The accused still took the time to reload his weapon five times, before shooting at the front door behind which the victim was.

“I don’t know what was going on in my head. I was angry, I wasn’t thinking.” The shots were however quite precise, with a first impact in the barrel of the lock, and the others in the extension of this lock at eye level. It was the shot aimed at the bottom of the door that hit the victim, while he was lying behind it: “At first, I didn’t know she was behind it…” Before the Aude Assize Court, the accused contested the intention to kill. However, he gives no answer as to the motivation for his action. Except that he was angry after hitting his head on a beam that was a little too low at home: “I don’t know what I wanted to do. I can’t explain it all.” He also does not remember telling the police that he regretted his failure, after learning that the victim was not dead.

Present in the room with her loved ones, the victim approached the stand to recount the nightmare that is still hers: “That day, my husband asked me to come down because Mr. Conte had arrived at our house very angry. When he saw me, he started to insult me ​​and his voice got louder. He told me that If I didn’t want to leave the property, I would leave in a bag… He started trying to throw punches at me which I managed to block. We then fell to the ground, and I managed to catch him. got the upper hand on him. That’s when I asked my husband to call the police, before they told me to let him go.”

Continuing her story, this lady, now aged 59, explains that the accused left very angry, “telling me that he was going to get his gun to burst my skull… When I saw him come back with it, I told my husband to give me the keys, then I heard a terrible noise in the lock and I fell when I was on the ground, there was a second shot which exploded on the stairs leading to the floor. At one point he pushed the door and felt that. I was on the ground. Then he came out and aimed at the side of my head, but the bullet hit my left arm and hit my left breast. It was the survival instinct that made me get up, to. to be able to take refuge in my room upstairs…”

Today, this woman is paralyzed in her left arm and can no longer work: “I have to take tablets all day long.” Forensic doctor, Dr Jérôme Alex evokes an open fracture of the humerus, where the radial nerve was severed. Dr Jean Claverie, expert general practitioner, talk to him about“a feeling of imminent death experienced by the lady, with intense stress. The after-effects are at the same time motor, sensitive and psychological: She saw death in the face. At one point, she even thought she was dead.” The victim’s functional deficit is estimated at an unusual rate of 30%, with suffering endured at 5/7. “I hope this person will be able to rebuild themselves”, concludes the expert. This Wednesday, June 19, the trial of Christian Conte will end before the Assize Court of Aude, with the pleading of Me Hichem Laredj in the interests of the victim and his relatives, the requisitions of the general counsel Agathe Charriau, and the pleading of Me Victor Étiévant in defense of the accused. He faces life imprisonment.