A 73-year-old man was presented before the Auch Criminal Court on Tuesday January 24 for acts of violence against his wife and son. At the heart of the debates: the responsibility of the defendant, who had experienced, at the time of the events, an episode of acute confusion.
The 73-year-old defendant stands at the helm, a green pocket in his hand, and answers questions directly from the Auch Criminal Court. He is presented this Tuesday, January 24 for acts of violence on his son and his wife. “What do you remember about the day of August 9, 2022?” Asks the president. The Gersois says: “I see myself at the table, with cutlery in my hands. Then, I find myself in the bathroom: my wife was putting bandages on my cuts. I was in the fog” .
Of the alleged facts, the man says he does not remember. However, the family meal that had started in conviviality that evening could have turned into a tragedy. “Your son says you got angry about your grandchildren making noise, says the session president. You then grabbed your knife and pointed it at your wife, telling her to shut up”. Their son intervened and tried to disarm his father, injuring his hand in the process (a wound that caused him 20 days of ITT). “They had to get together in threes to calm you down and you would have gone down at once,” says the court. Before adding: “Do you think it happened like that?”
“Episode of acute confusion related to drug treatment”
“If they say it, I believe them,” said the septuagenarian, who has been under judicial supervision since that evening. He is being prosecuted for this episode of violence, but also for a second event in 2019, during which he hugged his wife and then pushed her to the ground in her sleep. Again, the defendant does not remember. And during the investigation, his wife was unable to tell the gendarmes if he was conscious at the time of these facts. But she assures that she would have asked her husband to consult a doctor.
Because that is the whole debate of the audience. Several medical reports, including a report from a neurologist and a psychiatric report, refer to, at the time of the events in August 2022, “an episode of acute confusion linked to drug treatment.” Follow-up for type 2 diabetes and the consequences of a stroke, the Gersois was taking a treatment which could have caused this radical change in behavior. His lawyer and the public prosecutor therefore endeavor to demonstrate to what extent his judgment could have been altered. But the readings of the medical reports differ.
Reprieve requested, acquittal pleaded
“The neurologist does not affirm with certainty that this acute confusion is responsible, considers the prosecutor. At the time of the facts, this man was aware of the facts even if he could have suffered from such an episode.” She therefore asks the court to enter the sentencing process and requires an 8-month prison sentence with suspended probation, including an obligation of care.
But the defense attorney contradicts the prosecution’s position. “It is true that the expert opinions do not decide between the alteration and the abolition of discernment at the time of the facts, recognizes Mr. Vazquez. But the professionals put forward the hypothesis of drug interference and a hypoglycemic crisis. This does not does not in any way mean that he was fully aware of his actions at the time of the facts”. She therefore pleads for the acquittal of all the charges, believing that if the expert reports are not enough for the court, the doubt instilled by the doctors must, according to the law, be beneficial to the accused. The doubt must also, according to her, be retained for the episode of August 2019.
Explanations which do not however convince the court, which condemns the defendant to 4 months in prison with probationary suspension, with an obligation of care.
