In the end, the sentences handed down are not gigantic in this case. Three months in prison for him with continued detention, three months suspended for her. But this is undoubtedly not what the different parties who attended this trial will retain their immediate appearance on Wednesday at the Béziers court. Fatigue was nevertheless present when approaching this final case, around 11 p.m., after a heavy day of hearing. But the sometimes surrealistic attitudes of the two implicated did not fail to keep everyone awake.
Very close relationship
The couple, made up of two young people of twenty, were brought before the magistrates for acts of reciprocal domestic violence. The duo was therefore both warned and victim, over a period of prevention dating from September 11, 2019 until June 7, 2021, in Caux. The story as described by President Luc Barbier seems absurd: friends of the young woman have received screenshots from the Snapchat social network showing injuries suffered by the latter. At the origin of these bruises, blows carried by his companion on the side of the road following an argument in the car. In exchange, the spouse would also have received slaps. The exact circumstances remain unclear but one thing is certain, the two defend each other in the box. “He’s not violent, he never meant to hurt me. I started it.”, she argues. “She kicks me without meanness”, he continues. “But what planet are you on?”, asks the president, taken aback. “Well, on mine”, he gets in response.
Between two hazardous explanations, the lovebirds burst into tears, embrace, kiss, console each other. “We should have experienced the reform of the Minister of Justice, which consists of filming the hearings”, even comes to say the prosecutor Raphaël Balland. Such an attitude is perhaps explained by the hyper fusional relationship that both maintain. “I have been taking care of him since he had his serious traffic accident, he is my first love”, specifies the one who is also a nursing assistant by profession.
Danger intrafamilial
Problem, the pair has fragile nerves and the tension can quickly rise for futile reasons. In addition, different families had broken out several months earlier since the defendant had been hit with an iron bar by her boyfriend’s sister-in-law. Information that had previously escaped the public prosecutor, which has since decided to open an investigation into this matter.
In this chaotic setting, the prosecutor recalls that “the job of justice is to protect the weakest” and tells the twenty-something that she needs help. Her lawyer, Me Jegou, urges her to think about her first and foremost. As for the advice of the young man, Me Tourral-Suas, she assures him: “It is the most difficult file of my whole career. This couple has no benchmarks. Him, he is fractured on all sides”, she pleads, particularly moved.
In this context as heavy as it is improbable, lovers are separated by force of circumstances. Because if she leaves free and now under a simple reprieve, she will spend many months behind bars. Because in addition to the three months pronounced the execution of other sentences in connection with previous convictions but which had not been carried out. A heartbreak for them, despite their lucid observation: “We are considering a separation”, finally admits the young adult.
–