“It was a Monday. That day, his boss came to the door at 6 p.m. to say our son had died. Crushed by a wall. It was 16 m by 4: Franck took 10 tons on his head.” With tight throats but clear memories despite the years, Christian and Sylvie Pérennou plunge back into the horror of October 13, 2014 when their lives were turned upside down. “We collapsed on the ground, we were screaming… It’s an image that will always stay,” sketches Sylvie.
At 27, Franck Pérennou had just joined a large construction company in the Brest area. “He didn't have any special training, so he did all the demolition work, the hard work, which doesn't get paid. But he was a courageous, determined boy, he worked nights, did a lot of temporary work. He was happy to have joined this company, because he was going to earn a little more, €1,700. To die for €1,700 gross…”, breathes Christian.
Asbestos-free asbestos removal site
This Monday, October 13, 2014, Franck Pérennou has been working for around ten days on the site of the disused building of the former Skoda dealership, rue de l'Eau-Blanche, in Brest. With two colleagues, he prepared the containment necessary for future asbestos removal operations. A tarpaulin is stretched, fixed from a wall by tensioners. Around 4 p.m., the wall collapsed. And with him, the life of a family.
“We weren't able to see our son's body until the next afternoon. I called the Labor Inspectorate a day or two later. The inspector told me that the wall had been poorly constructed. That's all. Blame it on bad luck,” the father recalls. “One day, Franck's employer contacted me to tell me that there was no asbestos on this site. The tiling had been installed ten years after the ban on asbestos. This made us decide to file a complaint, with the formation of civil parties.”
They sleep well, continue to build walls haphazardly, validate construction sites and take young people to the pipe-breaking. We wake up every night with the feeling of not being recognized as victims.
Nine years of education
The start of an education that will last nine years. For his part, Christian Pérennou, “forty-two years in construction”, decides to carry out his own research, while his son's employer has contacted an expert to prepare his defense. He discovered that the disastrous wall was not built according to the rules of the art and without a concrete plan, and that it showed signs of fragility. He also points out the installation for asbestos removal, “nine tensioners hung on the wall to install the tarpaulin and make an airlock. When you know the strength that a tensioner has, the minimum would have been to put props on the wall. But no. All these people did their job badly,” accuses Christian Pérennou.
His wife gets on board: “They sleep well, continue to build walls willy-nilly, validate construction sites and take young people to the pipe-breaking. We wake up every night with the feeling of not being recognized as victims. For ten years.”
The investigating judge produced her notice of end of investigation on September 12, 2023. “Nine years to hear around ten people,” breathes the bruised couple. From this date, the prosecutor
had to submit his requisitions within three months. He did it on… November 18, 2024. And their content is far from satisfying Franck’s parents.
“We discover that everything has been reclassified, half of the proceedings abandoned.” The prosecution demands to prosecute the company which employed Franck for involuntary homicide, as well as the company which built the wall, as well as its boss at the time. Without retaining the notion of “deliberate violation of a security obligation” initially retained by the investigating judge.
Her two grandmothers have since left. Two of my brothers too. People who were waiting and who asked us every time we saw them: where are you with the business?
“Relatives left without knowing”
Since the tragedy, the couple has been compiling correctional hearing reports for cases linked to work accidents. “Look at this one: fatal accident on a construction site in Gouesnou in 2022, trial in 2024. I have plenty of them like that, resolved in two years. And why are they not processing our file? Should we protect anyone? Since the accident, there is a company on file that no longer exists. The boss of the company that built the wall is no longer the same. And the director of our son's company changed companies. They wait until there is no one left to close the file? “.
The couple, for their part, do not intend to remain silent. “We won’t give up. We are ready to do everything we can, to hold demonstrations in front of the court if necessary.” The mother's voice breaks: “We're getting angrier and angrier, thinking that we're trying to protect certain people. We lost our son. His two grandmothers, who were civil parties, have since left. Two of my brothers too. People who were waiting and who asked us every time we saw them: where are you with the business? All these people left without knowing. And we have to live with that. Does our son deserve less than the others? “.
Asked about this case, Brest prosecutor Camille Miansoni did not respond.
France
