Toulouse: “They are barbarians, without compassion or pity”, four men tried for having stolen, assaulted and killed a sexagenarian
Four men are on trial this week before the Assize Court of Haute-Garonne for the assault of four victims, in July 2018. Robbed, abused, Serge Balthazar, was then thrown into the Garonne. He did not survive. Alain, his brother, agreed to testify.
“They are wolves. And again, wolves attack to eat. “I wanted to attend this hearing. For Serge’s memory, so that he may rest in peace. But it’s hard…”
In the box four men including a boy who was a minor in July 2018 (17 years old) which explains the camera in a file described as “very difficult” by many stakeholders. The defendants, from Romania, went down to Toulouse that evening “to steal, assault. They ended up admitting it to the jury”, warns the president of the Bar Pierre Dunac, lawyer for the victim’s family. In search of prey, they attacked Serge Balthazar, 61, who spent the summer in his station wagon, in a parking lot on the island of Ramier.
“Serge was not homeless. He lived with my mother and my stepfather for a long time. The death of our sister in 2014, of our mother a year later and finally of our stepfather in 2018 were so many shocks. He didn’t want to stay in the apartment where he had lived for so many years with our mother and her companion. also think that he enjoyed this free life, a little bohemian.”
A witness at the helm: “I immediately thought of A Clockwork Orange”
In this “rather poor” family, the mother raised her three children alone. “We were very passionate, remembers Alain, the eldest. My mother held a position as an usher at the Capitole theater. She made us love music, opera. We even played extras. Serge also loved Bowie than La Callas. He worked for a long time in a fishmonger’s, then he distributed newspapers. He suffered from osteoarthritis problems which forced him to quit. They also attacked him because of his physical weakness. “
Chance placed him on the road to the accused that night. Why did they eliminate it by throwing it into the Garonne. “They were very violent with the three other victims but did not go any further”, notes, bitterly, Alain. “No doubt that one of them knows him. He tried to make anyone who could identify him disappear,” said Me Pierre Dunac.
The investigation carried out by the criminal brigade of the departmental security established the link between the four attacks, similar and ultra-violent. “When I saw them at work, I immediately thought of A Clockwork Orange named a witness to the bar,” notes Me Dunac.
“There is no form of compassion or excuse among these men, notes Alain. Not a word, not a request for forgiveness. They are barbarians without compassion or pity.” The verdict is expected on Friday. The defendants, facing four women and two men on the jury, are pushing for the maximum sentence: life.