Near Rouen, he sprinkles his company with ammonia and threatens to immolate it: a condemned man
By Writing Normandy
Published on
Friday, November 18, 2022, the Rouen Criminal Court judged a case that could have turned into a tragedy. The facts date back to September 25, 2022. At the end of the day, the police were called to Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray (Seine-Maritime), close to Rouens, at the home of a couple where a neighbor has taken refuge. The latter, in a state of shock, explains to the police that her companion, drunk, sprayed her face with a bottle ofammonia, before grabbing him by the face to approach him to a four electric.
A strong smell of ammonia
The woman managed to escape with her children. The respondent, still on site, acknowledges having had a dispute with his company. At his home, the police smelled a strong smell of ammonia and found an empty bottle on the ground.
Arrested and taken into custody, the man says he does not remember the facts. Examined by a psychiatrist, he was immediately taken to thepsychiatric hospital where there are 17 days left. In his report, the expert indicates that the individual presents immaturity and impulsiveness with a pathological dysfunction aggravated by his massive alcoholism. It will end in a impaired judgment at the time of the facts and recommends an injunction of care.
“He was angry”
Heard more precisely, the victim explains that a first dispute broke out in the morning. She decided to leave the place to go to a friend’s house. Her companion then sent her threatening messages to “burn everything”, she says. On her return, she says she discovered him ” dead drunk », Lying on the grass.
When I asked him for the PACS papers for procedures, he threw them in my face, grabbed my neck, before emptying the flammable on my face and opening the oven door under the eyes of his children.
The victim says he pushed his attacker back, knocking him to the ground, before fleeing. As he left, his companion allegedly threatened him “to kill and hang his children”. “He was angry, he was drooling, I’ve never seen him like that, I was scared of my life,” says this mother. Examined by a doctor, she received a total incapacity for work of four days.
His children are “afraid of him”
Heard, the children confirm their mother’s statements. “I’m afraid of him, I never want to see him again,” they say of their father.
Also questioned, the neighbor says that when she opened the door to her friend, the latter “was screaming, shaking all over; she was white and wet. She stank of a product. I told her to go wash up, she smelled of rubbing alcohol”.
She says she is ready to live again under the same roof
At the hearing, the defendant does not dispute the facts but claims not to have kept the slightest memory of them. He explains that he has been an alcoholic “since his adolescence” and affirms that he “wants to treat himself” so that “it does not harm his [son] evolution “.
Presented at the hearing, too, his company confirms his statements. However, she makes a point of “saving him”. To a question from the public prosecutor, she said she was ready to take him back to the marital home, “provided he was treated”. Assisted by his counsel, the victim becomes a civil party in his own name and for his children. And seeks the sum of 2650 euros in damages.
“Love does not excuse everything”
For its part, the public prosecutor expressed his concern: “Love does not excuse everything. When in September, we risk finishing the lead in a four and two months later, we are told that the defendant can return home, I wonder. He reminds the court that originally, this file was opened on the count of attempted murder and that these acts were committed in a context of massive alcoholism by a defendant with a worrying personality.
The prosecution believes that these facts of particular gravity have cut an important hold on the victims. It requires two years of imprisonment, one year of which is accompanied by a probationary suspension for two years with the obligation of care in connection with alcohol and the prohibition to come into contact with minors as well as to appear at the residence of the victims. The public prosecutor requests the continued detention of the defendant.
” A sick person “
The defense recalls, for its part, the complexity of this file, “due to the psychiatric state” of its client. In this respect, the lawyer underlines the deterioration of the discernment of the defendant (retained by the expert), which is not linked to his alcoholism “but to a chaotic childhood where sexual violence could have taken place”, argues the tips. The latter considers that the incarceration of “a sick person” would be counter-productive and calls for extremely reinforced monitoring.
The court finally found the defendant guilty as charged and sentenced him to one year imprisonment nine months of which he spent on semi-freedom. The man will also have to comply with a socio-judicial follow-up for three years with a treatment order, a ban on appearing at the victim’s home, on entering into contact with her and her children and on possessing or carrying a weapon. He must also pay the sum of 2,600 euros in damages to his company.*
* This sentence is subject to appeal. Everyone is presumed innocent until all legal remedies have been exhausted.
From our correspondent Frédéric Bernard
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