On February 23, 2022, shortly before 8 a.m., Allée de la Liberation in Thionville: it’s rush hour. A motorist makes a fishtail to a second who decides not to stop there. The tension is growing. Both cars are stationary. Insults flow. The two men get out of their vehicle. The author of the fishtail grabs the other vehement driver. But the latter does not stop there. He grabs a jack from his trunk and heads for whoever speared him. He smashes the rear windshield then tries to aim for the motorist’s head.
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A dog in the car
The surreal scene was described by the president of the Thionville criminal court on Tuesday. The author of the violence, aged 19, never convicted, was summoned to the bar. The anger has visibly subsided. Glasses, light-colored clothes, sorry look, he apologizes to the victim who had cut him off this February morning. He says he was afraid of having an accident when the other driver overtook him dangerously.
“When we are afraid, we go away”, replies the public prosecutor who is worried about such behavior. The victim made the trip to the hearing. She is claiming reimbursement for her windshield. She also recounts the consequences of this altercation: her insomnia, the trauma of her dog who was in the back of the car when her attacker broke the window.
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A fine and a ban
The defense minimizes and explains that his client did not raise his hand before the other motorist grabbed him. He recalls that the young man was going to work in Luxembourg. He maintains that he was afraid. He asks that the sentence pronounced not be entered on the criminal record bulletin, accessible to employers. The court grants it.
But the judgment condemns the defendant to 200 day-fines at 6 euros. That is a fine of 1,200 euros in total. If he does not pay, the uncollected sum will turn into a day in prison. The president also orders the ban on possessing a weapon for three years and the reimbursement of the windshield of the victim.
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