When the police arrive at the scene of the accident, they discover a car that has been rammed in the back, a broken wall and, a little further on, a second car damaged in the front, airbags triggered, windshield broken. They don’t have to look for the driver. The latter is waiting for them, seated. It is 11:30 p.m., Monday, January 24, rue de la Croix Prolongée in Clouange.
The 36-year-old man immediately announces the color: he spent the evening with friends, he drank five, six glasses of whiskey and coke and he took the wheel to return home to Metz. He confesses that he has no license, no insurance. He was placed on sobering up and then in police custody. Three days later, here he is before the criminal court of Thionville. Because the thirty-year-old is known to justice, he has fifteen mentions in the record, a majority of traffic offenses. He is also a repeat offender for driving under the influence of alcohol, without a license and without insurance.
This time he had 1.5 g of alcohol per liter of blood. On the second breath in the breathalyzer, the rate continued to climb. The defendant explains that he took the small roads to meet the fewest motorists. “The road was slippery a bit,” he continues. Then he draws, with a gesture of his hands, his loss of control and the skid of his Ford Focus. He hit a vehicle parked on the side of the road and a low wall before stopping.
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“Justice will have tried everything”
Brown, short hair, trimmed beard, fine leather jacket, he has lived with his parents since his release from prison in March 2021. He did not have time to save to finance his license but he bought himself a Ford in anticipation. The 30-year-old works as a temporary worker in a supermarket. He promises that he takes the bus and the train to go to work. He also admits that he has a little problem with alcohol. “I am not a person who is not aware of things,” he maintains.
The prosecutor, Brice Partouche, requires a firm response which, however, allows him to maintain a professional activity. A coercive sentence, adapted to the profile, would also be appropriate for the defence. Me Sylvie Becker reminds us that her client needs a follow-up, care that has never been pronounced so far.
The court does not remain deaf and pronounces twelve months in prison including six months suspended suspended from the obligation to work, to be treated, to pass the license in the next two years. The six months in prison will be served in a semi-freedom center in Metz. “Justice will have really tried everything, sir”, slips the president to him.
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