Twenty-one months after his violent road accident under the influence of drugs, Pierre Palmade was sentenced Wednesday to five years in prison, two of which were closed, at the end of a trial which confronted him with his victims, in this highly publicized affair.
After a full hour of deliberation, the Melun court (Seine-et-Marne) found him guilty of involuntary injuries to a family in the collision he caused on a road in Seine-et-Marne on February 10, 2023. while driving under the influence of drugs.
In accordance with the prosecution’s requisitions, the judges sentenced him to five years in prison, three of which were suspended on probation. For the two years in prison, the court issued a deferred committal warrant with provisional execution.
Pierre Palmade will be incarcerated in the Bordeaux region, where he lives.
Request for forgiveness
Appearing very marked, the 56-year-old comedian spoke directly to the victims during the trial, on the occasion of his first public expression in this highly publicized affair.
“I would like to ask you for forgiveness from the depths of my being,” he said with his hand on his stomach. “The serious injuries [des victimes]it knocked me down. I am really overwhelmed, distressed to see them in real life,” said Pierre Palmade.
>> Lire : Before the judges, Pierre Palmade asks for forgiveness for his accident under the influence of drugs
This tragedy is one road accident among the 52,000 recorded in mainland France that year. But the notoriety of this popular artist with a sympathetic image will trigger a media storm, revealing the dark side of a man suffering from addiction problems.
Physical and psychological aftereffects
During the accident, three people, arriving in a car opposite the one driven by Pierre Palmade, were seriously injured by the impact: a 38-year-old man, his six-year-old son and his 27-year-old sister-in-law, who after the shock loses the baby she was expecting.
Their vital prognoses for a time compromised, they still suffer today from serious physical and psychological after-effects. “It is very difficult for me to be present today in this room, there is a lot of work being done with my psychiatrist,” declared the young mother, suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome.
With his left arm in a sling, advancing towards the bar with infinite slowness with the help of a crutch, the driver of the vehicle described his new life circumscribed by pain and injuries.
“I was a team leader, I had friends, during the weekend I tried to enjoy with my children, my family […]today I can no longer do this kind of thing,” he testified via a Turkish interpreter.
17 months of abstinence
For 17 months and his nightclub outing in Bordeaux which made the rounds on social networks and outraged France – even the president of the court, who was moved by it at the hearing – Pierre Palmade has been abstinent. He undergoes urine screenings two to three times a week.
According to his sister and his sponsor at Narcotics Anonymous, his progress brings hope. “He is taking care of himself and I firmly believe for the first time that he will do everything right,” said his younger sister at the helm.
“I rediscover the simple pleasures of friendship, of family, of waking up in good shape, of writing personal thoughts,” assured the artist, who does not plan to one day return to the stage, but “is looking for a way to convey a message about drugs, a message of recovery and hope.”
cab/iar with afp
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