Two men appeared on Monday, November 18, 2024, before the Lorient court (Morbihan), for involuntary manslaughter and alteration of a crime scene. They had in fact moved the body of a drug addict who died of a heroin overdose to the home of his dealer in Moréac. On the evening of September 9, 2023, the latter, nicknamed Castor, had shared drugs with one of his clients who, in fragile health, had died in the night.
Discovering the lifeless body on his sofa in the morning, the dealer, rather than calling for help, called a friend. They had waited until nightfall to put the body in his car, driven several kilometers away.
If the gendarmerie investigation had initially concluded that it was a suicide, the mobilization of the victim’s family – which had even led a punitive expedition in the spring which had resulted in four of its members being convicted – had led to the opening of legal proceedings.
€188,000 for their various damages
Monday, November 25, 2024, the court sentenced the dealer, a 40-year-old food industry employee with a clean criminal record, to three years in prison, two of which were suspended on probation. His 38-year-old companion receives an eight-month suspended sentence.
The court, moreover, requires the forty-year-old to compensate the civil parties alone because the victim used heroin and alcohol, the effects of which he knew on health
. These emotional, moral and economic losses allocated to the victim’s family amount in total to €188,000.
Belgium
