the second defendant judged by the Court of Assizes of minors of Seine-Maritime
This Monday, June 13, opened at the Assize Court for minors in Seine-Maritime the trial of one of the accused of the murder of a cook in 2019. He was 17 years old at the time of the events. His accomplice was sentenced last February to 17 years in prison.
One of the two accused of the murder of a man in the city center of Rouen has been tried since Monday by the Court of Assizes for minors of Seine-Maritime. The trial takes place behind closed doors because the young man was 17 years old at the time of the events. He faces up to 20 years in prison.
On the night of September 9 to 10, 2019, the body of Olivier Quenault, a 46-year-old cook, was discovered in the gardens of Rouen’s town hall. The victim is naked and shows signs of beatings.
The minor who is appearing this week was accompanied by a 15-year-old teenager tried by a special court for minors, who sentenced him in November 2021 to 12 years in prison. On appeal, the accused was finally sentenced to a heavier sentence than at first instance: 17 years in prison.
Everyone’s responsibilities must be determined. Both admit their presence but say they only witnessed the assault.
Fabien Picchiottino, lawyer for the victim’s family
So far in both trials, neither young men does not want to take responsibility for this murder.
Yet it is together that they killed and tortured Olivier Quenault, a 46-year-old cook.
“Both admit their presence and some participation, but they both say that they did not deliver the main blows, that they could not prevent the other from circumventing the facts” deplores Maître Fabien Picchiottino, the lawyer for the victim’s family.
A family who, during the hearing this morning, heard the expertise of the medical examiner. The professional mentioned for the first time traces of strangulation on the victim’s body.
At the end of this week of trial, the relatives of Olivier Quenault want to know what exactly happened and what are the reasons which led the two minors to beat the cook. Perhaps, an escalation of violence that night…
This afternoon, at the Court of Assizes, the testimonies made it possible to know a little more about what the attackers did before leaving the forty-something for dead.
The young men attacked other bystanders three times. At the helm a couple came to speak. Two years after the events, he feels he has escaped the worst: “if my client escaped more violence, it was because she screamed very very loudly and that mobilized the neighbors and the police”explains Maître Julia Massardier.
The accused should be heard within the week, his lawyer does not wish to speak on the file.