The defendant already has a long criminal record, fourteen convictions in 21 years, most are linked to driving while intoxicated or without a license, to recurrences sometimes it is violence, theft with destruction. This repeat offender is not his first attempt. The farmer, father of three children aged 8 to 18, went this Saturday January 29 to 2022 in the courtyard of his neighbor. The latter is tipsy and insults his neighbor’s guests. One of them is of African descent, the farmer addresses him and utters racial slurs “dirty black”.
In the court of Roanne, in his box, the defendant lowers his head and recognizes the insults. On the other hand, the farmer does not admit having struck it voluntarily. This Saturday, January 29 at 5 p.m., when the 27-year-old man has just been insulted, he leaves with a friend. At that moment, the two men stopped at a stop sign and saw the farmer coming with a 10 ton tractor. The defendant rushes at them! The president of the court questions him “did you know it was them in the vehicle?”, the breeder defends himself “I didn’t even see it was them, I steered badly, that’s all, they weren’t in their lane”.
This is not driver version, “He ran over us with his tractor, he even knocked down a pole on the way. He could have killed us, I was scared of my life because I too have children”. The farmer apologized and said he was not mean or racist. He talks about the financial difficulties he has to face and his problems linked to a heavy daily consumption of alcohol.
The 43-year-old farmer was imprisoned in the La Talaudière detention center in the Loire. This Wednesday, February 2, 2022, the Criminal Court of Roanne sentenced him to 1 year in prison with a cancellation of the driving license, prohibition to take it again for two years and to drive any motor vehicle. The court found him guilty of “willful violence with a weapon by destination, driving under the influence of alcohol, refusal to submit to an alcohol test and public slander due to race, ethnicity or national origin“.