Three years of prison including two with reprieveit’s here penalty what the district Attorney at theaudience of this Tuesday, June 25 in front of the Criminal Court. The Compiègne magistrates judged Lucie Pachocinski after theaccident which cost the life of Katia Duval on June 17, 2023.
The accident occurred when Quennezil, the nightclub located on the road from Soissons to CompiègneA, was closing. Three young women left the establishment in a Citroën C1. At the wheel is Lucie Pachocinski. She has two passengers: Katia Duval, sitting in the front passenger seat and a third young woman in the back.
The car leaves the nightclub parking lot without stopping at the stop sign and drives off. A heavy goods vehicle traveling towards Compiègne sees the car crossing in front of him. He is unable to stop and crashes into the car. The small C1 is thrown across the road and ends up hitting a road sign. This accident will result in the death of Katia Duval.
They had spent the evening at Quennezil
At the hearing, the magistrates mentioned the night of June 16 to 17. The three young women, three friends, spend the night together at Quennezil. The defendant had won a magnum of champagne and decided to share it with her friends in the nightclub.
Called to testify at the hearing, the passenger who was in the back of the vehicle said: “We had agreed to each drink two drinks, but no more. Katia did not know how to drive a vehicle with an automatic transmission. And Lucie had already driven my car so I left her the keys so she could take us back.” To the magistrates, the young woman confessed to not having gotten behind the wheel because of her drug consumption. “I was going to smoke rather than drink.”
But at the bar of the court, the defendant contests. According to her, they had not agreed that she should drive. “I had never driven that car before that night. And if I had decided to drive, I would have taken my car.”
Drunk, she still got behind the wheel
The three young women left the establishment shortly before it closed. Several customers testified to the police. And all are formal. The three young women were drunk when they left Quennezil. “The returns from the toxicological analyzes revealed a blood alcohol level of 0.99 grams of alcohol per liter of blood for the defendant. However, against all expectations, the results came back negative for the two victims,” said the public prosecutor at the hearing.
“Your alcohol consumption, madam, is not up for debate,” says the president of the court to the defendant who replies that she does not remember what she drank during the night. And the prosecutor continues: “Customers, the security guard… Four people advised you not to drive, suggesting that you stay and sleep in the parking lot. You could have found this elementary prudence in yourself or among these friends. Yet you still decided to get behind the wheel.”
The three women unconscious after the shock and seriously injured
The witnesses are clear. They saw the car perform strange maneuvers in the parking lot before leaving. One client describes a “burn”, another mentions “uncontrolled slippage”. In her defense, Lucie Pachocinski mentions having had difficulty mastering driving the C1.
After the impact with the heavy goods vehicle, the C1 was thrown to the other side of the roadway against a traffic sign. The three occupants of the car are unconscious. Katia Duval, the front passenger in the car, was not wearing her seat belt. She succumbed to her injuries. The rear passenger is airlifted. In serious condition, she spent several days in a coma. Also seriously injured, Lucie Pachocinski is also hospitalized.
“I am unforgivable”
Faced with the driver, the prosecutor asks the court to pronounce a sentence of three years in prison, two years suspended on probation. It requires home detention under electronic surveillance to serve the firm part of the sentence. She asks the court to prohibit her from frequenting drinking establishments as well as to declare the cancellation of her driving license and the ban on retaking it before 6 months.
At the hearing, the young woman addresses her judges one last time. “I am unforgivable, I am very angry with myself.”
The court reserved its decision at the July 4 hearing.
The defendant mistreated on social networks
At the start of the hearing, Me Anthony Alexandre requests a closed session. Before the magistrates, he justified his request by the insults and defamation that his client would suffer on social networks. “We call him all the names. She is called a “slut”, a “criminal”, there is talk of “voluntary homicide”… The woman’s ex-mother-in-law took up this matter to try to get her to withdraw custody of her children. She has been doing this since the incarceration of her son, placed in pre-trial detention in connection with another case.
Finally, the hearing will be held in public.
“We are well aware of the great suffering and anger that some of you may feel given what has happened, but it is important that everyone hears and understands what is being said here today.” And he called on everyone to have a dignified attitude.
