INFO THE DISPATCH. Toulouse: after an attack, not a single word but 10 years in prison
The Toulouse Criminal Court sentenced the perpetrator of a violent robbery committed at the end of February in Toulouse to 10 years in prison as part of the immediate comparisons. This heavy sentence leads to a lot of comments. Explanations.
Not a single word. Already, Steven remained silent during his arrest in the Arnaud-Bernad district of Toulouse on the night of February 27, a Sunday. He was not more talkative during his custody at the central police station except to oppose his fingerprinting and DNA. “When he was presented to the prosecution, he also remained silent,” confirms the prosecutor who received him. Before the criminal court on Tuesday March 1, this 31-year-old man refused to join the courtroom and remained in a cell in the basement of the courthouse. That day, the court revealed that a psychiatric expertise “was necessary” and the file was returned.
Thirty days later, Wednesday March 30 when he appeared this time in court, the psychiatric expert had not carried out his examination. “The defendant refused it,” said the prosecutor. And in front of his judges, as in front of his victim unable to bring the slightest element on the attack with the knife of which she was the target, not a word either. The victim, six days of legal incapacity, is almost excused for not being able to help justice. “I had drunk too much…” Almost 4 g of alcohol in the blood.
Why did Steven, 31, martyr him that night in late February around 2 a.m.? A villainous assault? Likely. When the police arrested him, a few meters from the man who was injured in the face by the blade of a knife and who, according to a witness, also received numerous kicks and punches, the suspect was wearing his jacket. his victim but also his bank card, his headphones, his keys… This violence was not filmed by the neighborhood CCTV cameras. Witnesses were heard. “They confirm the extreme violence,” insists the prosecutor. “Not all”, tempers the defense.
The defense: “It’s very complicated to judge without hearing”
Steven, a backpacker from Rennes, has a criminal past that questions: 48 mentions. Anything but reassuring. “A lot of convictions when he was a minor”, notes his lawyer, Me Pierre Gontier. At the beginning of February, he was also involved in a robbery with a weapon far from Toulouse. “We don’t know anything about this story, really nothing”, defends Me Gontier.
Always silent in court, “mute even”, says the prosecutor, this boy offered a face of wax, without the slightest expression, to his judges during the 45 minutes of the hearing. “The court has no problem with the right to silence. But it has a problem with silence, believes Me Pierre Gontier. It’s very complicated to judge without hearing. We judge with one eye closed. And finally, this silence becomes synonymous with dangerousness.”
The prosecutor had requested 8 years of imprisonment. The court went further. Sentenced to 10 years in prison, what will Steven do? So far he has not appealed. Me Pierre Gontier is due to visit him at the Seysses remand center this beginning of the week. “Ten years is huge. You have to cash them in,” said the lawyer. And appeal? As long as you don’t remain silent.