On June 14, psychiatric experts recognized the impaired discernment of Jordan Garnier, accused of the murder of his girlfriend and his neighbor in January 2022. The young man was prey to hallucinations which could have been caused by his consumption cannabis…
“It is normal that crazy people are not judged”, says Jordan Garnier’s lawyer, Me Pierre Debuisson. This June 14, the criminal irresponsibility of his client was recognized « plausible » by the investigating judge, when he is accused of having killed his girlfriend Amélie Calas, and her neighbor Caroline Fournet on January 22, 2022 in Roujan (Hérault).
That morning, Jordan Garnier was so anxious that he did not take his job at the Super U where he worked. He goes to a general practitioner to request sick leave. With his document in his pocket, the 22-year-old young man goes to see his girlfriend Amélie. They share a few joints, but the atmosphere is much less relaxed than expected. Jordan begins to have visual and auditory hallucinations and thinks that the young woman is going to turn into a zombie…For him, the only option is to kill her. He stabbed him 85 times. As he leaves the apartment, he meets the ambulance driver neighbor, Caroline, who is going to walk her dog. Jordan asks her for help, and drags her into the apartment where he stabs her in turn, attacking her neck.
“He was unblocking” for a few months
The emergency services are alerted when Jordan goes to his father’s store covered in blood, saying ” I did something stupid “. Directly placed in police custody, the young man explains being subjected to “delusions, paranoid thoughts, the feeling of being followed”. Mental disorders recognized by those close to him who say that he “went into a tailspin » et “unblocked” for three months. He had also wanted to kill his cat.
If Jordan was hearing voices, his father says it could be due to his regular cannabis use. In the long term, this drug can indeed cause paranoia, hallucinations or even schizophrenia. This is also what the psychiatric experts retained from the analyzes carried out. They then note the alteration of discernment. The January 2022 law, which indicates that perpetrators are not recognized as criminally irresponsible when they are under the influence of drugs, was passed after the double murder. The Bézier public prosecutor’s office agrees with the experts’ opinion. It is now up to the investigating chamber to determine whether Jordan Garnier will be tried.
It’s a shock for the families of the victims who requested a second opinion. “to check if the accused could not have manipulated the experts”, according to the lawyer for Amélie’s relatives, Me Jacques Lévy. The expertise will be refused, which revolts Me Lévy: « I see that the young man was conscious enough to tell his father that he had done something stupid ».
