Five people have been on trial since Monday February 6 before the Gironde Assize Court. They are being prosecuted for having tortured and kidnapped Mathieu, a 22-year-old autistic Asperger, in the station district of Bordeaux.
On the fifth day of the hearing, the Advocate General presented his submissions against the five individuals, who were in their twenties at the time of the events. Punches, cinder block in the chest, cuts with a knife, burns on the body and attempted rape. All are accused of having caused the victim to experience a real ordeal.
For six days, from September 4 to 10, 2020, Mathieu, a young man with Asperger’s syndrome, placed under reinforced guardianship, lived through hell. His executioners: three men and two women with chaotic and miserable journeys. Four of them are detained, prosecuted for kidnapping, extortion, or even attempted rape: three aggravated crimes, acts of torture and barbarism.
The allegory of the three little monkeys
From the start of his presentation, Jean-Luc Gadaud sets the tone. “They behaved like barbarians in these acts committed in packs.” And to use the allegory of the three little monkeys to describe the behavior of the accused, “the monkeys of indifference and cowardice, nsee no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.
Twenty five years were required against Vanessa, the childhood friend that the autistic youngster hosted with Samuel, his boyfriend at the time. “The Muse of Evil” for the public prosecutor, “the wick that lights the grenade of violence”. In front of the court, the young woman, had admitted her participation in the violence committed, explaining to have “preferred to do nothing so as not to return to the streets” while she was pregnant. With Samuel, she formed “un couple of asocials and perverts with similar profiles who settle as parasites in people’s homes” hammered Jean-Luc Gadaud.
Thirty years were required To against Samuel, described by his lawyer as “impulsive and emotionally immature”. At the helm, the young man assumed having tied up, hit, lacerated, fired an airsoft gun at the victim. An outburst of violence explained by the unpaid debt, but also the discovery of sexual touching that Mathieu would have committed, when he was a teenager, on another child. Mobile swept away by the Advocate General who in his indictment underlined “the toxic coupling of the couple, of a hyper violent and a cold manipulator”.
Twenty-seven years were required to against Michael, already condemned for corruption of minor by screens interposed.
Fifteen have been required at against Lenaïc, victim of a child rape which never gave rise to the slightest legal response.
Et Five years including 43 months suspended To against Flora, the only one appear free, mentally deficient following an encephalitis, presented by the psychologist as “a little girl in an adult body”.
In concluding his indictment, the Advocate General addressed the jurors asking them to assure Mathieu, the victim, “a future without fear of reprisal”. It is now up to the defense lawyers to plead. The jurors will then retire to deliberate. All incur life imprisonment. The verdict is expected in the coming hours.
