Placed in police custody in Fayaoué for damage caused by fire, a 37-year-old resident of Ouvéa was found inert in the cell on the morning of October 31, “his mattress and blanket charred”. According to the prosecution, he bore no trace of violence, and the autopsy concluded that “death resulted from inhalation of toxic fumes in a closed environment”. The investigation continues.
How did a resident of Ouvéa lose his life in a police custody cell? This is the question asked by the people of the island mobilized in front of the Fayaoué brigade on Wednesday November 13. The ongoing investigation provides some answers, according to the press release released this Thursday 14 by the public prosecutor.
According to the account given by Yves Dupas, this 37-year-old man was arrested on the evening of Wednesday October 30. Presented as “very excited”he was surprised on the public highway “degrading by fire a place of local custom”. The police “also note that he has just destroyed his own vehicle by fire”adds the press release. Hence the placement of the thirty-year-old in police custody “for the offense of damage by fire or means dangerous to people”.
However, on Thursday October 31, “at 8 a.m., when the cell was opened, the gendarmes discovered the man, lying on the ground, in thick smoke, his mattress and blanket being charred”transmits the prosecutor. “Despite the rapid intervention of emergency services, death was noted by the doctor on duty at 8:50 a.m., with an initial diagnosis of cyanosis characterizing a lack of oxygen.”
According to Yves Dupas, “a lighter was discovered in the man’s pocket which would have allowed him to set his blanket on fire, probably at the end of the second round of checks by the gendarmes, which took place at 5:20 a.m.”. Then “the autopsy ordered by the prosecution concludes that a death resulted from inhalation of toxic fumes in a closed environment, compatible with a fire started at the level of the blanket and the mattress”. And to add: “No injuries of violence or suspicious traces were noted.”
Saying “anxious to carry out investigations with complete objectivity and impartiality”the prosecution explains that it has referred this procedure to the research section of the gendarmerie, as well as the judicial investigations office of the general inspectorate of the national gendarmerie.
The mission of the investigators of the general inspection of the gendarmerie, a service acting under the authority of the public prosecutor’s office, in complete independence from the gendarmerie services, is in particular to verify that the measure of custody of the deceased man is was carried out in compliant conditions, and if any negligence was committed in terms of both security measures and medical monitoring of the person.
Yves Dupas, public prosecutor
An investigation which continues, in particular with the hearing of family members.
Swiss
