“My name is Pierre Sourgen. I only live through the words of my beloved wife and those of my lawyer. » When he takes the floor for his civil party pleading, this November 13, Mr.e Stéphane Guitard brings back to life for a few moments this peaceful retiree from Floirac, killed by punches and kicks, on April 10, 2021 in the common areas of his residence. “Unbelievably atrocious acts of gratuitousness”, according to the lawyer, which have resulted in five young people being tried since November 7 by the Gironde Assize Court.
The main accused, Romain Barros, appears on trial for murder. Three others are on trial for complicity in murder, because they participated in an avalanche of blows, which was not known which was fatal. A young girl, who remained passive in the face of events, must answer for failure to report a crime.
According to the accused, it all started with an inappropriate remark from the sixty-year-old to the young girl in this group, who came to squat the premises to drink and smoke, ignoring the obligations linked to the health crisis.
“Collective killing”
“At 68, he had a speech of his age, he didn’t say: ‘You’re stuffed good’. It’s disgusting to say that again today, to tarnish his memory,” scolds Me Guitard. Rereading laudatory testimonies, the lawyer on the contrary wants to believe that Pierre Sourgen left without agony, “with the feeling of duty accomplished. Sentimentally, friendly and professionally. »
“They smashed his skull on the ground like a walnut.”
“This case is the death for nothing of a retiree with no history,” believes the attorney general, Alain Pellegry. He describes “non-human behavior”, “a barbaric murder of incredible savagery”, “an enjoyable and barbaric collective killing”, “a massacre perpetrated by four brainless individuals from problem families, on the margins or even at the expense of society “. “They smashed his skull on the ground like you crush a walnut,” he summarizes.
“They avoided their responsibilities even in their absence of empathy,” sighs the attorney general. When he was found thus disfigured and bloodied, Pierre Sourgen “was dressed in symbolic work blue, the polar opposite of the toxic, violent, parasitic behavior of the accused. He could have been any of us. This file must serve as an example, it has societal interest. »
“Judged as co-perpetrators”
The words, always correct, are harsh, weighed, full of suppressed anger and indignation. Romain Barros, “who made violence a way of life and expression,” “excited and incited the three to participate in the lynching. And they, even if they had less involvement, dealt blows. They must be judged as co-perpetrators, we must exclude any other legal qualification which would lessen their sentence,” says Alain Pellegry.
The magistrate requires thirty years of criminal imprisonment and a two-thirds security sentence against Romain Barros, suspected of having had a central role. He asks for fourteen years of imprisonment against the two young people who, for one, blocked the passage of the victim who wanted to flee, and for the other, made a brush which caused him to fall to the ground; and twelve years against the last which also struck the sixty-year-old. Finally, he requires a six-month to one-year suspended sentence against the young woman. The verdict is expected on Friday.
