the essential
While a young man was being prosecuted for theft and violence, the president of the court had the room evacuated to the cries and insults of people in the public. The father of the accused was arrested.
He came to support his son in front of the Auch court, he left under police escort and risks prosecution for death threats against a person holding public authority and violence. The scene that occurred this Tuesday afternoon in the precincts of the judicial court was rare.
If the hearings are often charged with emotion, for the victims, sometimes the defendants, bloodshed like the one witnessed by the audience is nothing usual. The court security officers as well as the prison escort showed composure to maintain relative calm while waiting for the police to arrive and prevent the situation from escalating even further.
On the stand this Tuesday, an 18-year-old young man prosecuted for 8 offenses. 2 acts of violence with a weapon and the rest for theft. Theft of a telephone, a scooter, a car, the proceeds of a restaurant for nearly €2,500, etc., in Valence-sur-Baïse, Condom, Auch.
The events took place from April to November. It was only on November 14, less than a week ago, that the young man's “journey”, as the president of the court presents it, ended. When the latter entered a construction truck in Condom and tried to take over part of the contents. The craftsman arrested him in the act and informed the police.
In police custody, he denies most of the facts, just as he did in court. Which noticeably annoys the president. “It is your most absolute right to lie to defend yourself. But there is your truth and there will be the truth of the court,” she finally said to cut short the denials of the young man in front of her.
Opioid addiction
It was shortly after that the hearing degenerated. When discussing the personality of the accused, the president questions him this time about a particular event. The vomiting that took hold of him while he was in police custody. “Do you have addiction problems? And don't say that you smoke cannabis from time to time like you did in police custody. You are on methadone. We don't treat cannabis addiction with that “.
In fact, the product is prescribed to treat much heavier addictions, for dependence on opioids, notably heroin and cocaine. “I don’t want to talk about it,” the defendant responds several times.
That’s when his father, still sitting calmly at the back of the room, intervened. By first attempting to speak without being invited before being taken back by the president. “You keep quiet sir or I will ask you to leave.” Then by getting angry with a member of the prison escort, present to supervise his son on the stand. “Why are you looking at me like that? Who do you think you are?”, shouts the father of the family.
And so on, until the defendant's mother and sister also got involved. The president had no choice but to evacuate the room, amid shouts and shouts, and to declare the hearing closed.
Death threats
While calm seemed to have returned to the court hall, tension rose again. Jostling, shouting, insults… it was close to the blows raining down. The high point of this incredible sequence is the death threats vociferated by the father of the accused against the prison officer. “Get out, I'm going to kill you, you're dead etc”, under the gaze of the day's visitors, the staff, and that of the public prosecutor… the free-for-all will end after several minutes of cacophony in the hall of the court.
The family was finally evacuated by security, before being caught outside the court by the national police who finally arrived. The father was calmly arrested and taken into police custody.
As for the son, defended by Me Sandra Vazquez, he was sentenced to 18 months in prison, 8 of which were suspended on probation, as well as the revocation of two months in prison from a previous conviction. He returned to the remand center after the hearing.
