Debris everywhere, windows of neighboring residences blown out, cars crushed by concrete blocks, a building gutted. This scene of chaos, which he saw on the Internet a month after everyone else, is playing in the head of Rodrigue Landeau, 57 years old. “As if a missile had fallen from the sky,” he whispers. I wonder how I'm still alive. » He is the only physical victim of the explosion at the Les Vignes pourpres residence which occurred in Puilboreau, near La Rochelle on the night of May 7 to 8 of this year. At 4:30 a.m., an explosion coming from his apartment on the third floor wiped out Building A and its 31 social housing units. Miraculously, apart from Rodrigue Landeau, there are no injuries. In Niort (79), the fifty-year-old is rebuilding in a rehabilitation and functional rehabilitation center where he was admitted on August 6.
Amputating his right leg on site and burning 20% of his body, he was placed in a coma then in intensive care at the Pellegrin hospital in Bordeaux. While convalescing in Niort, he digs into his memory. He says he doesn't remember anything. Neither from the explosion, nor from the previous days. A black hole. Partial amnesia believed to be due to shock. He knows that his memories are essential to his defense. If Rodrigue Landeau is a victim, he is also warned. In September, he received a summons for May 14, 2025 from the La Rochelle judicial court to answer for unintentional damage and injuries by voluntarily opening the gas tap in an apartment in order to commit suicide by asphyxiation. “This is a very serious accusation, it hits me to the guts. I've had bouts of blues like everyone else, but I've never made an attempt on my life. I experience very badly what I am accused of. »
Untruths
Rodrigue Landeau is one of the first tenants of Les Vignes pourpres, a residence delivered in 2016. He has always lived in apartment A, 31.45 square meters in size with balcony. He moved there alone and works small temporary jobs. Four years ago, he got into a relationship with a tenant on the lower floors. “I was happy, we can tell you that. I had started a career change in horticulture. I really like flowers. »
On the morning of May 8, 2024, Building A was gutted by the explosion. Rodrigue Landeau lived on the top floor of the residence.
Jean-Christophe Sounalet / SO
But the expertise, the hearings and his amnesia work against him. A very significant consumption of gas exclusively in his apartment was noted. It excludes forgetting. “I’ve always been careful. » When help arrived, Rodrigue Landeau was conscious. According to a firefighter, he said he wanted to kill himself. To the police who also came to question him in mid-July, he said “maybe” when asked if he wanted to end his life. “I was on medication, high. I wanted to be calm, I felt attacked by their questions. They were the ones who put this in my head. I'm not depressed, I'm appreciated by the neighborhood. And even so, if I had wanted to kill myself, I wouldn't have done it like that. On the first floor, there was a couple with a 6 month old baby. I was a soldier, I know the value of life. »
“A lack of maintenance”?
According to him, it is towards the lessor Domofrance that we must turn. In 2018, he stopped paying his rent due to water infiltration. “Domofrance had been ordered to pay him 1,500 euros in damages,” recalls Rodrigue Landeau’s lawyer, Me Alexandra Baslé. For her, this avenue needs to be explored. “It proves the lack of maintenance. » His client, a trained carpenter, asserts that the residence had “aged very badly. It was edifying. Domofrance should have turned against the manufacturer. Tenants had already smelled gas before. I think a pipe burst in the night, 12-13 millimeter pipes, it's flowing at full capacity. The explosion apparently happened when I pressed the switch. But these are just guesses. I would really like to remember…”
Jean-Christophe Sounalet / SO
The explosion shattered the windows of parked cars and the windows of neighboring residences, without causing any other serious injuries.
Me Baslé is still waiting to have access to the file. “An instruction would have been more appropriate, we would have at least had all the contradictions,” she said. She plans to request additional information. Rodrigue Landeau has only kept in touch with his partner, who will be on the side of the traumatized victims during the trial. “The investigation was very short. There are too many gray areas. I can't wait to go to court to explain myself. People are mad at me for my outburst. I'm like Erin Brockovich. I am alone against everyone. »
When contacted, Domofrance responded that it did not wish to speak “ahead of the decision of the criminal court”.
