Man remanded in custody for “organized gang robbery” and “sequestration” of a septuagenarian in La Richardais

The investigation chamber of the Rennes Court of Appeal remanded in custodyFriday May 12, 2023, a man, domiciled in the Paris region, accused of having taken part in the “sequestration” and the “organized gang robbery” of a septuagenarian living in La Richardais (Ille-et-Vilaine).

This 27-year-old unemployed truck driver was imprisoned on February 10, 2023 following the complaint filed by a 79-year-old man.

A man appears at his window

On the evening of the events, the victim “was about to turn off his TV” at home, in his house in La Richardais, when a man had “appeared” at his window “with a knife” to “ask him where his money was” .

A face pillow

“Two other” individuals had then appeared, according to the account of the septuagenarian, and had put “a cushion on his face” to stifle his cries: “strongly jostled”, he had been “slapped” and had received “blows in the kidneys.

The retiree then had to give them the “300 €” he had in his wallet, his bank card, his “brand watch” and “the contents of his safe”, detailed the magistrate responsible for reading the documents in the file, during the public hearing on May 12, where the request for the release of his alleged attacker was examined.

Kneeled and aimed with a gun

The septuagenarian was then “kneeled” by his attackers and threatened to be “killed” with “a gun” if he did not reveal the place where the rest of his supposed “money” was stored.

The Mercedes located thanks to its Sim card

Two of the three criminals finally left behind the wheel of their victim’s Mercedes A-Class to make four withdrawals of money from the Postal Bank of La Richardais, for a total of €1,200.

For his part, the septuagenarian had finally managed to thwart the surveillance of the third and to take refuge with a neighbor.

The gendarmes of Ploubalay (Côtes-d’Armor) were subsequently able to “geolocate” the car in Pleurtuit (Ille-et-Vilaine), Pleslin-Trigavou and Beaussais-sur-Mer (Côtes-d’Armor) thanks to the SIM card with which it was equipped.

After noting a journey “towards Val-d’Oise”, the gendarmes of the Rapid Intervention Brigade (BRI) set off in pursuit of the criminals, but however “did not manage to arrest them” and had to “abandon” their plan to arrest them.

Often in Pleslin-Trigavou

The suspicions of the investigators had at that time turned to D., an unemployed truck driver who lives in Villiers-le-Bel (Val-d’Oise), but who “spends a lot of time in the Côtes-d ‘Armor’, according to the elements read this Thursday, May 11, 2023 at the hearing of the investigating chamber. And for good reason, the mother of her two young children lives in Pleslin-Trigavou.

21 convictions in 10 years

Already sentenced twenty-one times between 2011 and 2021, including fourteen times for “aggravated theft”, the man also used to go to Garges-lès-Gonesse (Val-d’Oise), where the parents of his ex-partner.

However, it is precisely in this town that the Mercedes Class A of the septuagenarian of La Richardais had been found “abandoned”.

His identified accomplices

Investigators also believe they have identified his two alleged accomplices: a resident of Pleurtuit “unfavorably known” from their services and another from Sarcelles (Val-d’Oise).

The first actually “acknowledged having participated in the burglary” of the septuagenarian of La Richardais because he “needed money”. He also said he “knew” D. for having played “in the same football club” as him.

Came to steal “€30,000”

The second “accomplice” of Sarcelles also admitted to the gendarmes having come to steal the “30,000 €” supposed to be at the home of a man “normally absent from his home”, according to the plan which had been transmitted to him by “an acquaintance of Villiers -le-Bel”. But he finally found himself “in the Breton countryside” and in the presence of the victim…

A “perfectly justified” pre-trial detention

Before the investigators, D. for his part “disputed” any theft and kidnapping, simply admitting “knowing” the first of his two co-indicted.

His continued detention on remand was therefore “perfectly justified”, from the point of view of the Advocate General: “pressure on the victim” and “fraudulent collusion” between the suspects are “to be feared” in the event of release.

As a pledge of reintegration, D. – who was pleading his case without a lawyer – had argued that the president of his football club “has businesses in Paris” and that he was able to find him a job. “I was earning a very, very good living outside, but because I am coming out of five years of detention, I am stuck with an image because of my record,” he lamented.

“Today I am a father and I remain presumed innocent… I am wasting my time in prison”, he added to obtain “an electronic bracelet”. “I’ve done it before and it went really well,” he told the judges.

But the investigating chamber of the Rennes Court of Appeal was deaf to his arguments and kept him in pre-trial detention.

In Rennes, GF for the PressPepper agency

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