Bachir Laouadi is a regular at the criminal court. Despite his young age (24), he has already been convicted three times for violence, including one against his partner, and theft, but he had never been implicated in a criminal case. Accused of attempted murder by eleven stab wounds on a man, then aged 35, on the night of May 6 to 7, 2022 in the city center of Digne-les-Bains, against the backdrop of an argument between the spouses of the two protagonists, this young man with long tied hair appeared yesterday before the Assize Court of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence. “Stab wounds that he admits to having carried out”out of fear“, without intending to kill his victim, who, in a serious state of health, escaped thanks to a rapid surgical intervention in the hospital of the lower Alpine city.
“A serene childhood” then addiction problems
In this first of three days of trial, the debates were centered around the personality of this young Algerian present in the box, who crossed the Mediterranean at the age of three after being adopted by a Digne family. “He had a peaceful childhood. During his school career, he was a discreet and average student, who got by until the baccalaureate which he did not obtain“, observes his detention advisor at the Baumettes prison in Marseille, where the accused is currently detained.
His behavior would have changed somewhat as a teenager. “It was when his father told him of his adoption that he rebelled.“, indicates President Estelle de Revel, relaying the testimony of the victim's mother during one of her hearings. It was at this time that Bachir Laouadi began consuming cannabis and committed his first crimes. “As soon as he starts smoking it becomes a problem“, estimates an expert psychiatrist, called to detail his report before the Court by videoconference. The doctor does not report “no mental pathology“, but note trends”narcissistic, impulsive and violent“.
However, he believes that someone who dreamed of becoming a video game scriptwriter as a child is not particularly dangerous, and believes “AVERAGE“the risk of reoffending, at level four out of nine. Also called to testify remotely in front of the Court, an expert psychologist notes that the accused is “used to fights” et “defy the rules“, even up to detention where four incidents have been reported by the prison services since May 12, 2022. “I am calm and thoughtful, assures the accused in a calm tone, who faces a sentence of thirty years of criminal imprisonment. Yes, I am impulsive, but only when someone is attacking me or my family. I never initiate any evil action.“
Facing him, the victim of the stabbings does not dare to meet the gaze of the man who could have taken his life. “I'm scarred all over my stomach, I have scars on my back, near my lungs“, he recalls on the stand, also evoking depression and anxiety. The details of the facts will be discussed today in the courtroom, before the verdict expected tomorrow evening. The intention to kill or not must be decided by jurors and magistrates.
