A new trial begins this morning before the Loiret Assize Court. The trial of Fabien Langlois. This man, now 40 years old, was appearing for attempted murder of his ex-girlfriend on the night of December 9 to 10, 2019 in Ouzouer-sur-Loire, a town located on the road from Orléans to Gien. The victim, then aged 35, had been seriously injured in the arm by a shotgun blast. The accused then turned the gun on himself. Verdict expected on Friday. .
Alcohol from the age of 10
Fabien and Bénédicte have been together since adolescence. They got together in 2008, they have two children. In recent years, the couple’s life has deteriorated, punctuated by domestic violence, ruptures and reconciliations, against a background of the accused’s deep alcoholism which makes him jealous and possessive. Born in Pithiviers into a family of five children whose parents act as foster families, Fabien encountered alcohol for the first time at the age of 10. At that time, he says he was sexually assaulted by foster children. In 2018 on sick leave after having been operated on, he then frequents the gatherings of yellow vests where he massively consumes alcohol. Finally in 2019, after having been employed for 19 years as an order picker then forklift driver, he is fired in November for his delays and his behavior. Returning drunk from the hunt on December 9 of that same year, later in the evening when the couple was in bed, Fabien Langlois once again attacked Bénédicte.
A shotgun blast before turning the gun on him
An argument breaks out. Bénédicte tries to go down to the kitchen but Fabien throws her on the bed and tries to strangle her before releasing her according to the mother of the family. Still according to the victim, the accused would then have uttered “_I’m going to shoot you and I’m going to shoot myself afterwards so we’ll be quiet”. After going to get his gun in the car, he shoots her, in the living room, almost at point-blank range, seriously wounding her in the arm. The father then turns the gun on himself, in front of her children aged 6 and 12, pulls the trigger, seriously injures his face, falls unconscious for a few minutes then gets up before attempting to hang himself in the garden. He was arrested without resistance by the gendarmes near the home. If he does not dispute the facts, Fabien Langlois denies on the other hand having wanted to voluntarily kill his ex-companion.
A handrail at the gendarmerie
The qualification retained of attempted voluntary homicide Me William Bourdon, the defender of Fabien Langlois, also disputes it. For the lawyer, one of the tenors of the Paris bar, who notably defended yellow vests in Montargis, his client did not target his spouse, he wanted to scare her and her excessive and chronic alcohol consumption influenced his personality and facts. A thesis to which will surely be far from subscribing to Me Nathalie Tomasini, one of the protagonists of the highly publicized Jacqueline Sauvage affair. There is no doubt that the victim’s lawyer will rely on the heavy liabilities of the accused, in particular sentenced in 2005 in Montargis to one year in prison, including 9 months suspended for aggravated violence. In 2003, at a village festival, he hit a man during a fight with an iron bar, causing his permanent disability. The lawyer, specialist in domestic violence, will also not fail to mention the handrail deposited by the victim at the gendarmerie of Gien just a few weeks before the tragedy. During a new bout of violence, his companion had broke his glasses pulling his hair before locking him in the house to prevent him from leaving.