One of the main accused, Sylvain H., subject to psychiatric disorders, was the subject of an expert assessment at the start of the week. She concluded that he was unfit to appear.
Hadrien Gand was 31 years old when he was beaten to death on the banks of the Alzou
in Villefranche-de-Rouergue. It was June 25, 2021, during a barbecue party to which he had been invited.
His mother, his sister, his father, his stepfather… More than three years after Hadrian’s murderseverely beaten on the banks of the Alzou in Villefranche-de-Rouergue in June 2021, his family, who came from Albi, took their place on Thursday September 26, 2024, at 9 a.m., on the benches of the Rodez court.
Repeat offense, as a couple: who are the other accused?
Elvis M., the man who once killed.- He is, with Sylvain H., the main accused in the case. He would have given the fatal blows to Hadrian. Born in 1971 in the Paris suburbs, he moved to Aveyron in the 2000s. He will appear for repeat murder. Indeed, when he was a minor, Elvis M. had already killed a man… It was during a trivial brawl motivated by jealousy. He was 17 years old and had been sentenced by the Val-d’Oise juvenile court to seven years in prison. He is defended by Me Alexandra Gosset.
Michel B. and Laura P., the couple present at the barbecue.- He is nicknamed “the Indian”, she has been his companion for many years. This unemployed couple, based in Villefranche-de-Rouergue, will appear free. Both are subject to judicial review and are being prosecuted for “willful failure to prevent a crime”. They were present during the barbecue on the banks of the Alzou, during which the victim was severely beaten. They are defended by Ruthenian lawyers, Me Cédric Galandrin and Me Bastien Auzuech.
Renaud G., “the friend”.- Born in 1978 in Champagne-Ardenne, Renaud G. accompanied Hadrien during the barbecue. He is introduced as his “friend”. Now a building painter in Béziers, he will also have to answer for voluntary abstention from having prevented a crime.
“Desire for justice”
During the week, his mother expressed in our columns her desire for “justice”. She also wanted to understand what had pushed several people to beat her 31-year-old son to death. But she will still have to be patient.
Just after drawing lots from the Aveyron jury, the president of the Assize Court, Sylvie Rouanne, made a request for referral. That of the advice of Sylvain H., one of the main protagonists in the affair. Incarcerated since the events at the Druelle remand center, he was the subject of a psychiatric assessment this Tuesday. Conclusion: “Not fit to appear”. The trial, which was to last until next Thursday, is therefore postponed. When? “Maybe 2025,” said the judge.
“I don’t know how to read or write.”
Sylvain H., white shirt with a raised collar, tousled brown hair and beard in a collar, had nevertheless presented himself in the accused box. He gesticulated a lot, cried, compulsively held his head in his hands. Then he delivered his only words. “What is the name of your lawyer?” asked the president. “I don’t know, I can’t read or write,” he replied, before looking around at his loved ones, also in the room.
At the end of the hearing, his lawyer, Me Romain Fontes of the Montpellier bar, explained that his client was “regularly subject to psychological disorders” and that he had been hospitalized “under duress” in psychiatry this summer. Experts have not put a name to his illness.
“He may have hallucinations, he is not able to answer the questions of a criminal court,” said his counsel.
Already convicted of rape
Born in Rodez in 1994, Sylvain H. had to share the box with the other main protagonist in the affair, Elvis M., 52 years old. Three other people appear free. The duo allegedly inflicted the fatal blows on Hadrien during the half-hour of incredible violence around a barbecue. “I just wanted to teach him a lesson and leave him alone… And everything degenerated”, Sylvain H. defended himself, during a request for release in 2022.
He now faces life imprisonment and finds himself a repeat offender: he was already convicted of a crime, rape committed against his sister. Three other entries appear in his locker. “His life is not a long, quiet river, but a torrent always calms down. You don’t become violent if you haven’t been violent. In his mind, it couldn’t have gone further than two or three peaches” , had pleaded his counsel at the time, emphasizing the chaotic journey of his client, illiterate, under guardianship and victim of domestic violence during his childhood where he saw his father and then his stepfather commit suicide…
For the civil party, “it’s a cold shower”
Lawyer for the civil party, Me Michaël Corbier, became aware of the referral request yesterday morning. Only a few minutes before the start of the hearing.
“It’s a cold shower,” he didn’t hide. “We hear the imperatives of respecting the rights of the defense. But this is very unpleasant for my clients, the family of Hadrian. They wanted this trial, they needed it to rebuild themselves,” he indicated before the court. court, saying at the same time “doubtful about these expert psychiatrists, managing to probe the human soul…”
“What will it be in three or six months?” Before heading back to Albi, the victim’s mother, Fabienne Steiner-Gaudez, indicated that she “did not expect” this dismissal as well. Above all, she wondered about the future: “What will it be in three months or six months? I fear that this young man is still not fit, unfortunately. I would have liked all this to end quickly but we will wait… And we will have to judge carefully with or without him.”
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