TESTIMONY. “I am revolted…” A year after the death of his wife and daughter on an agricultural dam in Pamiers, he recounts his pain

A year has passed since a car, ignoring the signs put in place on the RN 20, in Ariège, collided on the morning of January 23, 2024 with a farmers’ roadblock set up in Pamiers, on which Jean-Michel Sonac, his wife Alexandra and their 12-year-old daughter, Camille. The results are terrible. Alexandra is killed instantly. Camille succumbs to her injuries in the evening. Injured in the spinal cord and victim of a severe double head trauma, Jean-Michel Sonac spent several weeks in hospital convalescing.

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Time has not erased any of the pain. However, less than a month before the trial of the man who took the lives of his wife and daughter, Jean-Michel Sonac remains dignified and modest. Calm, despite the anger that we feel bubbling and the emotion that sometimes makes him silence and look away. “A few hours earlier, there were hundreds of us,” he remembers. “It was 5:30 a.m., it was the time when we were waiting for relief, we were all exhausted, we were resting as best we could. The day before , we had worked two days in one to be available and help our colleagues at the assembly point. Then it happened and we didn’t understand. After the shock, I had nothing left. “

“I was going to do the stupid thing, it was the little one who stopped me”

Solidarity is immediately evident: neighbors, family, farmer friends take turns to take care of his farm, a fundraiser is launched, testimonies of support pour in. “They were there, they are still there today, notably Sébastien (Durand, president of the FDSEA of Ariège and mayor of Saint-Félix-de-Tournegat, the village where Jean-Michel Sonac lives, Editor’s note). He and others told me: “If you need…” and they were there all summer, they were there for the harvests, there were lots of people from all over France who helped us. written. It feels good to feel supported.”

A support that is barely enough. Looking straight, Jean-Michel Sonac says: “What kept me upright was my second daughter, Lucie, it was she who lifted me up. But before getting there, I almost I was going to do the irreparable stupid thing, it was the little one who held me back. She has her mother’s character, she was stronger than us.

Already present, the anger grew even stronger. “Before, I was a rather calm person, today I am revolted, says the farmer. I blame our leaders, our government. If they listened to us, we would not have reached this point. there, we would all have been on our farms But we are dying with our mouths open, with ever more regulations, ever more controls. We have been controlled by the OFB (French Biodiversity Office, Editor’s note) because. we are irrigators. When we see them arriving without warning, with dark glasses and their hand on their weapon… We experienced it as an attack.”

“Our place is to be with our animals, not on the roads to defend our work”

“That day, we were there,” he continues, “but it was not our place as farmers. Our place is to be with our animals, not on the roads to defend our work. Why did we have to get there? To simply survive. Because it’s survival, quite simply. On Sunday, I never took any. calls us dealers, but I work 70 hours per week and that’s to have 1,000 euros at the end of the month.”

The driver’s trial will not calm this anger. “It is above all the outcome that I fear, recognizes Jean-Michel Sonac. I hope that our justice system will do its job. It will do it, but will it do it as I believe? This is a person who had an OQTF (obligation to leave French territory, Editor’s note) and who was still there If we had accompanied him, he would not have been there that evening. We understand that. said to me: “It could have been someone else”, but for me someone else might not have done it. When you see a dam, you don’t force it… But I don’t expect anything from him. What I want is for him to be convicted for what he did.”

“They must not have left for nothing”

So the farmer will not give up, nor will he fear the pain which is likely to resurface during the tribute ceremony this Thursday. “On the contrary, I need them, they must not have left for nothing. Alexandra was very committed, even more than me, I hope that this will make things happen. If necessary, I I would go back. If Alexandra were in my place, she would go back. If we stay behind, what does that mean?

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“I don’t see myself giving up my job,” concludes Jean-Michel Sonac, determined. “We fought for years to bring the farm to where it is today and what we did, we did for the people. children That’s why my eldest daughter was with us, she wanted to go to agricultural high school, at 12 she already knew that the little one would also want to do this job. When there was a birth, they were with us. we raised the animals. bottle, they all have a first name After the accident, the little one told me: “Be careful dad, you don’t sell the cows, that’s for me later, it’s not a job.” , it’s a passion. Otherwise we wouldn’t last.”