The two neighbors had not spoken to each other for four months and their quarrel had ended up degenerating under the influence of alcohol. Manuel S., stabbed his neighbor in the middle of the street, near Goussainville station (Val-d’Oise) on August 8, 2021, going so far as to break the blade.
This 43-year-old man, originally from Cape Verde where he was a farmer before working as a mason in Portugal and then in France for several years, is accused of attempted murder. His trial ends on Thursday. Carlos F. narrowly escaped death and faced his attacker on the first day of his trial before the Val-d’Oise Assize Court.
“In the street, I am not calm. I am scared “
“I thought I was going to die…” At the helm, “Carlito” as his friends call him, recounts in a few words this attack which could have been fatal to him. The doctor from the medico-judicial units (UMJ) noted 7 wounds in the neck, chest and shoulder, sometimes 9 cm, close to the carotid. He has three facial fractures. After being taken to Gonesse hospital, he was transferred to Lariboisière in Paris because of a foreign body: the end of the blade had got stuck in a bone of the skull, behind the ear.
He was given 21 days of total incapacity for work. The doctor also noted a psychological impact and an invasion of consciousness. “It prevents me from sleeping and in the street, I am not quiet. I’m scared, ”he confided to the Assize Court.
The victim attacked from behind
The scene takes place at the exit of the main Goussainville station. On this summer evening, Manuel S. returns from Sarcelles where he did some gardening with his brother but also drank a lot. It is then a little after 6:30 p.m. when he meets his neighbor, Carlos F., also very alcoholic. Have they ever seen each other on the train, have they ever yelled at each other there? Still, the argument breaks out and degenerates. According to the accused, as he explained in police custody and then before the investigating judge, the victim threatened him after taking out a knife.
According to the various witnesses to the attack which took place in front of a bar and a bakery, the attacker comes from behind his victim, grabs him by the collar, and stabs him. A third man intervenes almost immediately and tries to stop his action. He would later be identified as the brother of Manuel S.
“He didn’t have time to turn around, to understand what was happening”, indicates a witness who describes the gesture of the author who held his knife “like when you stab, not while sweeping”. “He managed to hit him on the head,” the bakery employee told the police, who saw the scene unfolding just behind her window. “His hair protected him a bit, he had dreadlocks. She also distinguishes the blade of the knife which falls to the ground, broken under the violence of the blows, while the author flees towards the Carrefour store.
Few memories under the influence of alcohol
On the facts, Carlito has few memories, perhaps partly because of the alcohol consumed in quantity: “I left the station, I crossed the street. I felt something hit me. Then nothing. I fell. He adds, still incredulous: “I have no enemy…”
During his hearing, the victim admitted to having been on good terms with Manuel when he arrived in the pavilion in 2021 with his wife where they all rent an apartment, in Goussainville. But for four months, Carlito had decided not to speak to his neighbour, no longer supporting his arguments with his wife, this violence which he assumes without having ever witnessed it. “She was crying all the time…” he told the court.
The accused claims not to have wanted to kill his neighbor
Manuel S. was to be questioned about the facts. If he recognizes the stab wounds, he claims never to have wanted to kill his neighbor. According to the psychologist expert who met him, he had interpreted the victim’s gesture as a threat, attacking him for fear of being attacked. He also speaks of the “harassment of his neighbour”, a “provocative and brutal” man who had already invited him “to fight” with him.
The accused admits having also drunk a lot that day. With his brother, they had gone to the allotment garden. But instead of planting the cabbages because of the bad weather they had alternated between beers and whiskey all day. The verdict is expected Thursday evening.
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