This Thursday, October 17, 2024, the trial of five young people will open before the Rennes juvenile court. They are accused of beating Wilhem Houssin to death on July 21, 2021. The 49-year-old musician died in hospital three days later. His parents await the hearing in a mixture of impatience and fear.
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“For us it’s going to be an ordeal. We know it’s going to be cruel since we’re going to relive the last moments of Wilhem’s life,” breathes François-René Houssin.
On October 17, the trial of their son’s attackers will begin before the Rennes juvenile court. Wilhem’s parents need to understand what happened on July 21, 2021. “We know how it happened, however, we don’t understand. Such a shift, such violence. Someone who asks for an address and finds himself on the ground a few minutes later? It’s relentlessness. Confusing your head with a football We reach levels of violence that are hard to imagine. What exactly happened during these three? minutes ?”
duration of video: 00h02mn39s
report by S. Breton, V. Chopin and N. Jacob. • ©France 3 Brittany
This day in July 2021, Wilhem accompanies a friend who has to visit an apartment in Saint-Jacques-de-la-Lande, very close to Rennes.
It’s a little after 3 p.m. They search the street, question the first passers-by and head towards a group of young people near the media library.
“We don’t know what they said to each other. He went to ask them for information and it got out of hand,” Martine Houssin, Wilhem’s mother, has been wondering for three years.
The beginning of the scene is filmed by surveillance cameras, but a first shot takes Wilhem out of the frame. It’s 3:13 p.m. At 3:16 p.m., he lay on the ground. Unconscious. He suffered from serious cranio-encephalic trauma and cerebral hemorrhages. He died in hospital three days later.
Rue André Malraux in Saint-Jaques-de-la-Lande where Wilhem Houssin was beaten to death. • © Valérie Chopin / France televisions
That day, Wilhem had been drinking.He tried several times to take cures, it worked for a while but unfortunately it’s a spiral, testifies François-René Houssin. When you’re drunk, sometimes you say things…”
For three years, Wilhem’s parents can’t help but replay the film of that day. He had to come and help his father put up a pergola. It was very hot, 32 or 33 degrees. “On the phone, at the end of the morning, he told me, “ok, we’re starting the construction site tomorrow at 6 a.m., I’ll be there, but now no because I’m going to accompany a friend to look for accommodation”, these are the last words I had with him. There are things like that that are excessively brutal, because you say to yourself: maybe if I had insisted, he would have come. We’re remaking the world a little, but it’s too late!”
Under the pergola, François-René and Martine are talking about their son. Sometimes one person’s hand will rest on the other’s. They listen to each other recall their memories. And often smiles cross their faces.
Wilhem Houssin • © DR Houssin family
“He was a very generous person, they describe. He wore his heart on his sleeve. He often hosted people in his home. One day, there was a Mahorese family in the street. The lady was pregnant, she had her two children and suitcases on the sidewalk. It was 9:30 p.m., he opened his door for her.”
Martine sees the same boy again, years ago, “When he was little, he invited everyone to come and eat at home. The postman would drop off the mail and ask him if he was hungry..” she said, laughing.
“He didn’t only have good qualities of course, but he was generous. He resolved small conflicts, listened, supported. Helping was something completely natural for him, insists his father. To the point of sometimes worrying his mother who would repeat to him, “you won’t save the world alone! “
On July 31, 2021, a “colorful” march was organized in memory of Wilhem Houssin. • © Karine Hannedouche / France Télévisions
Two “colored” marches were organized after Wilhem’s death, they brought together several hundred people. “I remember the last march, when we arrived at St-Jacques-de-la-Lande, as we approached the stage, they had put on Wilhem’s record, there was his voice, it was terrible and magnificent.”
In front of the town hall of Saint-Jacques-de-la-Lande, at that time, a deal point was set up. The thing was visible, notorious.
A few weeks after the tragedy, the public prosecutor held a meeting in the municipal premises. While he was speaking to elected officials, traffic continued behind the blinds…
A deal point behind the town hall of Saint-Jacques-de-la-Lande in 2021. • © Christophe Rousseau/France Télévisions
“Of course there are drugs behind it. It’s a disaster, Wilhem’s father laments. The lookouts are getting younger and younger. They are 14 years old and we are starting to find enormous quantities of drugs in car trunks and even weapons of war.”
Wilhem’s five attackers were quickly arrested. Some were known to the courts. Two of them were minors at the time of the events. They will appear before the juvenile court from October 17, 2024.
“What we want is for them to be punished as they should be. But what we would like is for there to be the means to help them in the penitentiary centers. So that they can become aware , train themselves. If they come out after a few years and nothing has changed, they will start the same life again with the same violence.
Wilhem’s relatives are waiting for answers to their questions, “because it’s not normal for young people like that to beat to death“. “Our little men, our grandsons ask us, why, why did we kill Dad? That’s terrible. We’re grown up, but they…”
Wilhem Houssin’s parents remember their son’s generosity. • © Valérie Chopin / France televisions
François-René and Martine expect difficult times. Their son’s attackers will be there, facing them. ” I want to understand where they come from, understand whyi, Martine repeats again before immediately specifying, but I especially don’t want us to fall into the trap of racism! Especially not! We have been very clear from the start that we want to avoid any exploitation by the far right. We are all citizens.”
“Wilhem, he was like us. Whether we are Muslim, Jewish, black, we don’t care, the door is open… “
The trial will be held until October 25. Those close to Wilhem then hope to be able to breathe.
They won’t turn the page… ever. “Life goes by, but he was our son and a little boy’s sweetheart… Wilhem is always present!”
