Toulouse: elderly tenants threatening to commit suicide, a knife to their throat, the prefecture delays their eviction
A couple in their sixties, under the influence of an eviction, barricaded themselves in their apartment and threaten to commit suicide. The Haute-Garonne prefecture prefers to temporize in order to avoid a tragedy.
Jean-Marc Stadtler is on the lookout. At the slightest suspect in the parking lot of the building, he is ready to slit his throat, the blade of a dagger pointed at the carotid artery. The phone is ringing. It’s the police. His wife Jacqueline picks up and puts down the knife she had under her chin. The conversation cuts short. The retiree remains entrenched in her positions. If the police try again to extract them from their accommodation, route de Saint-Simon in Toulouse, the couple promises to commit suicide. Jean-Marc paces between the kitchen and the bedroom, threatens to cut his finger with a chopper. “I’d rather die than end up on the street,” he yells.
This Thursday, October 6 at dawn, a dozen police officers took over the building and knocked on the front door of their apartment. “They said they were there for the deportation. We told them to leave that we weren’t moving, ”says Jacqueline. Given the situation, the prefecture asked the police to “break camp”. “Given the behavior of the occupants of the accommodation, it appeared that the conditions for eviction were not met”, indicating the state services. For 10 months, the couple has been living as a recluse with four cats in an apartment with closed shutters and completely barricaded.
Dismissal for serious misconduct
Jacqueline hasn’t stepped outside since December 2, 2021, when her husband was fired from his job as the condo’s janitor. “He was criticized for his behavior and multiple shortcomings in his work. Especially since he became aggressive and insulting with the person who replaces him as well as with certain co-owners. The inhabitants are afraid. It cannot go on any longer”, insists Me Sébastien Herry, the lawyer for the trustee who manages the building. The lawyer obtained in the wake of the interim relief judge on May 13, the expulsion of the couple from their official accommodation.
“We live in hell”
Since Jacqueline’s physical health has been declining, her mental state is very worrying. Like Jean-Marc who started drinking and smoking again despite having 17 stents placed in his coronaries. He challenged his dismissal. The matter is up to the prud’hommes. We are far from its epilogue. The case should be judged in 2023. “We have solid arguments to put forward. In reality, the condominium wanted to get rid of him because he costs them too much between his salary and his accommodation”, analyze the lawyers of Stadtler Mes Kennouch and d’hers. “What we want is a reprieve. We want to join our daughter who lives in the Pas de Calais. An HLM office offered us accommodation but we don’t have a penny to move. In a few months , we will have enough money to leave. We promise that we will do it because for us here it is hell”, slips Jacqueline.