The accused was found guilty of stabbing the victim 16 times, who escaped thanks to the intervention of doctors. The question of premeditation was at the heart of the debates during the hearing at the assizes.
He is a man already well known to the justice system who has been sitting in the accused box since Monday, November 18. Bachir Laoudi, aged 24, was tried by the Assize Court of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence for attempted murder.
The events occurred on the night of May 6 to 7, 2022 in the city center of Digne-les-Bains. It was following a dispute that he stabbed 16 times in areas described as “vital”. The victim, a man aged 35 at the time, was, according to the court, only able to survive thanks to the intervention of doctors.
The question of premeditation
During the third and final day of the trial, the question of intention was at the heart of the debates for the attorney general. “This is what makes the offense that we are accused of today complex. We do not know what was in the author's mind at the time he made the choice to wear the stabbing”, she explains in court
And added: “We know that he was under the influence of alcohol and cannabis. We know that he was angry. He also said this Tuesday that he felt humiliated. He chose, this are his own words, the choice of revenge It is from there that the scene is objectified by the video surveillance of the town of Digne-les-Bains. He has a knife on him, we see it. goes down rue de l’Hubac. He takes it out and checks that the blade works. […] He intends to use it. This intention lasts for the seven minutes that the journey lasts.”
An intention which, for the attorney general, is beyond doubt: “He made the choice to kill the victim. It is not an impulse, it is a decision that he makes. [..] He wanted to make sure she would be alone. The first area he targets is the neck and there will be 16 stab wounds. At the level of the head, cervical, back, heart and abdomen. […] Today I ask that Bachir Louadi be declared an assassination attempt. In my opinion, we must take into account the seriousness, the consequences on the victim but also the personality of the accused.”
The requisitions lasted several minutes, during which the attorney general finally requested a sentence of 15 years of criminal imprisonment, accompanied by a ban on staying in the department, a ban on carrying a weapon as well as ineligibility. All this for 10 years.
Comments to which Me Mickaël Hautot, the defense lawyer, returned. “We have all at some point in our lives may have had the desire to fight, but is the desire behind that to say: 'I want to kill this person?'” he asked during his pleading.
“It is not because there is this will that there is a criminal will. This is what happened. When there is a criminal plan with premeditation, the act is purely considered, it is an act which finds an outcome In the facts today, was there this reflection project? The answer is obviously no,” continued the lawyer.
“A nameless brutality”
Bachir Laoudi wanted to apologize to the victim. “It was a despicable act on my part, but I have matured a lot. Today, I am a new man who is trying to build himself into a future,” he declared in the dock. .
The victim is now marked “forever”. For Me Xavier Colas, lawyer for the civil party, these “19 seconds that the act lasted were of unspeakable brutality. Even if my client is alive, he is still marked by all his scars, visible on his body. He can no longer bear to see it because he is so bruised. He is not in a desire for revenge, but for justice. These 16 stab wounds destroyed his life and that of his partner.
After long hours of deliberation, the Assize Court of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence found Bachir Louadi guilty of attempted murder and followed the requisitions of the attorney general. Bachir Louadi was sentenced to 15 years of criminal imprisonment. He is prohibited from possessing or carrying a weapon and will be ineligible for 10 years. Premeditation was not found.
