Grégory Testa30 years old, resident of Lacroix-Saint-Ouenmust answer for a series of three distinct factsagainst his partner. She accuses him of having followed by car for thirty kilometers on Saturday November 9. She also denounces a slap on May 8 and a threat with a gun on October 29.
He was to appear in court with prior admission of guilt, but he is presented in immediate appearance Thursday, November 14, following the alleged acts of harassment.
At the bar, he disputes “certain facts”.
“I took a slap, I gave him back”
On May 8, 2024, his wife presented herself at the police station. She accuses him of a slap when she wanted to go to a restaurant. “We are separated, but he still lives with me,” she explains. We have a five year old child. He left the house, then he came back… But there is nothing between us anymore.” She wants him to leave home.
There was definitely an argument, he said: “It was because of this unplanned outing. And I wanted her to speak to me differently.” He pushed her away with two fingers on her mouth, to encourage her to be quiet. “I avoided a slap and then took one. I gave it back to him. She hit the wall.”
“I have no problem keeping my daughter,” he explains on the stand. The argument is because of the lack of respect. I want to be notified of his releases. This way, I can anticipate.” And the fingers on the mouth? “If we do it to you, will you take it well?” asks the president. “No” he replies.
“You would have the right to file a complaint when the lady hits you,” intervenes the prosecutor. “She’s my daughter’s mother,” he replies.
“My wife is doing everything to make me fall,” he told the police. I don't want to separate. This accommodation is close to my job. I don’t want to lose this stable situation.”
“I never threatened her with this fake weapon”
On October 29, the partner had already gone to the gendarmerie. “My husband has a gun at home. He puts it under the stairs. He pointed at me with it. But I’m not afraid of him.” On the stand, he responds: “There has never been any violence with this weapon. It’s a fake weapon.”
The president intervenes: “Madame is supposed to tell you when she goes out to a restaurant, but you don’t tell her when you bring home a fake weapon…” “I wanted to put it in a frame,” he said. I have always had weapons in Guadeloupe. But there, with my daughter, I preferred to hide it. And I had no desire to scare my wife.”
“You want to kill me?”
Under judicial supervision following this episode, he had to leave the home and was prohibited from contacting her. On November 10, his wife went to the police station to say that he had called her four times in hidden calls and then followed her by car. She talks about a chase.
“That evening I was with a friend in the car. I didn’t want to go home as long as my neighbor could see me in the presence of another, knowing that he is friends with her husband.” While parking in an Auchan car park, she sees her husband arriving by car. She starts but he follows her. “You want to kill me?” she told him on the phone. “I just want to know who is in the car with you,” he replies.
“I went to get gas from Leclerc and I saw that she was with someone,” he explains on the stand. I wanted to prove that she filed the complaint because she had someone else. That it was to throw me out.”
“I wanted to prove that she was seeing someone”
He recognizes that he put her in danger during this evening, which he traces back. “I was with my neighbors (I was not prohibited from coming to Lacroix). We were watching the match at the café. I asked them to pass on the message that I wanted to see my daughter…”
“And when you see her in the parking lot, why didn’t you leave? the court blames him. We told you not to approach him.” “I felt stupid, I wanted to take a photo…” he explains. “The race continues for a long time! Thirty kilometers!”, recalls the prosecutor.
Then, he returned to his hotel in Compiégnois, even though he had assured the courts that he would live in the Paris region.
“I would like to know who this man is…”
The court mentions the couple who are struggling. “She’s talking to you about a break. It’s definitely a separation for her.” “That’s what she tells you,” he corrects. In any case, today I understood that it was over. And that’s my will too.” His lawyer says he will start divorce proceedings and leave home.
The person who was in the car testified anonymously. “She would be afraid of you,” the judge told him. For what reasons?” “I don’t know if this person is afraid,” continues the defendant. I don't know who it is. Maybe it's someone I know. I would like to know who it is…”
He works as a heavy goods vehicle driver. His boss maintains his confidence in him. The defendant's record is clean.
“This chase astounds me” says the prosecutor
The prosecutor describes a couple with a chaotic history. “This finger-to-the-mouth gesture is, at the very least, humiliating. She is subjected to the presence of a man at home, who has a weapon. And there is this chase that amazes me. It's classified as harassment but it's incredibly violent. Madame has character but she must have been afraid.”
As for the slap, “it’s not self-defense.”
It requires eighteen months, twelve months of which are suspended for two years.
“Madame’s words are the only elements in the case against my client”
Maître Sabine Thoma-Brunieres defends Grégory Testu: “Madame’s words are the only elements you have in this file. She is absent at the hearing and she has refused all confrontations, even though she has never been afraid of the gentleman. She even told the police not to issue a no contact order when she came to report the weapon. Yes, they don't have the same vision of things. Madame has been talking about a separation since 2018, even though it is the year of marriage. It has been postponed until 2021.”
The lawyer mentions the lease in both names. “Madame says he must get out of the house. There is a simple procedure, divorce. She hasn’t done anything on her part.”
“She keeps saying she’s not afraid of him.”
Regarding the slap. “He says, 'I'm being insulted, insulted. I put two fingers on her mouth to make her stop.” He is right to stop her from speaking to him like that. Especially since he is also criticized for accepting the unacceptable. Madame can go on vacation for several days and after that, we would have to organize ourselves without saying anything. She says “he approached me but I won’t let him do it”. I don't understand the violence she denounces. In her statement, she says of him that he “is nice, that he is a cream”… I will tell you the context in which this slap, the only one, took place. He suffered violence that day.”
She pleads for release for the threat with the fake weapon. “It’s one person’s word against the other.”
For the chase: “We are suing him for harassment, but we have nothing. The wife's living conditions would have to be degraded. However, she keeps saying that she is not afraid of him. He came across her by chance while going to get gas. In her mind, it was about taking a photo, to prove she's not being honest.”
Released for the weapon, he was found guilty of endangering a vehicle driver and slapping. He received a ten-month suspended sentence. He is prohibited from contacting the victim and appearing at his home for eighteen months.
