the essentials Three police officers have been on trial since Tuesday for the violent arrest of Théo Luhaka in 2017 in Aulnay-sous-Bois. Before the Seine-Saint-Denis Assize Court, several medical experts took turns to report on the evolution of the young man’s health and after-effects, seven years after the events.
Seven years after the events, three peace guards have been on trial since Tuesday January 9 in a case made into a symbol of police violence. In 2017, the violent arrest of Théo Luhaka in Aulnay-sous-Bois caused a national stir. Friday January 12, medical experts took to the stand at the Seine-Saint-Denis criminal court to recount the suffering of this young black man, now with a lifelong disability following his attack.
Throughout his life, Théo Luhaka will suffer from “incontinence”, experts revealed. When the 29-year-old man was arrested on February 2, 2017 in Aulnay-sous-Bois, he received a “thrust”, more precisely a blow with the tip of the peacekeeper’s telescopic defense baton (BTD). Marc-Antoine Castelain, through his underwear. The pain is so intense that the athletic young man collapses. The blow caused a rupture of his sphincter (ring muscle) with a wound ten centimeters deep.
He underwent emergency surgery for the first time and lived with “an ostomy bag” of stool, explains a gastroenterologist and proctologist who met the victim three times. In May 2018, Théo Luhaka will undergo a second surgical operation to restore his transit. This new intervention will “worsen” his condition with “pain, oozing, bleeding”, details the specialist by videoconference. There “is no real proctological care”, she regrets.
Post-traumatic syndrome, weight gain and depression
With another expert, the professor will meet Théo Luhaka one last time in June 2023 and observes “an improvement in fecal incontinence”, “no anal pain”. His anus has “healed well”. However, the young man “did not want to undergo rehabilitation”, “considers that nothing is possible for him, that his situation is definitive”, which is objected by the various doctors who examine him.
A psychologist thinks he “has post-traumatic syndrome”. Théo Luhaka “stays locked up at home, it’s a friend who does his shopping,” she reveals. A former footballer in Belgium, he “gained ten kilos” and fell into “depression”. He lives on an allowance for disabled adults of 900 euros.
The question of “permanent harm” caught the attention of the Assize Court on Friday, which saw gastroenterologists, proctologists and other experts parade. One of them believes that the victim’s serious injury does not result in “permanent disability” but “after-effects”. “At the cost of a heavy investment, it is possible to improve over time but there is little chance of disappearance” of one’s incontinence, analyzes conversely another. A third assures that “it will be complicated to improve the leaks”. He will be “embarrassed on a daily basis”, “complicated in his intimate life”. Seven years after his medical treatment, his incontinence is “still present”, notes another specialist. If Théo Luhaka respects strict medical and psychological monitoring, “we will be able to improve between 60 and 80%” of his state of health but it will not recover “the tone of the anal sphincter”.
A rare case of police violence judged at the assizes
And it is because the victim retains these irreversible after-effects of his violent arrest that the police officer responsible for the baton attack is prosecuted before a criminal court, a rare occurrence in cases of police violence, mainly judged in criminal courts.
The main accused, Marc-Antoine Castelain, 34, is being prosecuted for intentional violence resulting in “permanent mutilation or infirmity” on the victim, with the aggravating circumstances of his status as a person holding public authority, with a weapon and in meeting. An offense punishable by ten years of imprisonment and a fine of 150,000 euros. Initially, the police officer was indicted for rape, but the characterization was ruled out during the investigation due to lack of sufficiently substantiated evidence.
Jérémie Dulin, 42, and Tony Hochart, 31, are on trial for willful violence with aggravating circumstances. The trial will resume on Monday with the hearing of Théo Luhaka. The verdict is expected on January 19.
2024-01-13 13:53:30
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