a fifty-year-old under guardianship found dead, pre-trial detention required for the couple who sheltered him

The Valence public prosecutor’s office opened a judicial investigation on Sunday after the discovery of the lifeless body of a 53-year-old man in a house in Drôme.

A judicial investigation was opened on Sunday, December 31, for “habitual violence against a vulnerable person” and “abandonment of a vulnerable person leading to death”, after the discovery, Friday, December 29, of a 53-year-old man under guardianship who had died in a house in Grand-Serre (Drôme), France Bleu Drôme Ardèche learned from the public prosecutor of Valence, Laurent de Caigny.

The two forty-year-olds who had been sheltering him for some time are suspected of having mistreated and neglected him, according to the prosecution, which requested their placement in pre-trial detention. The couple was presented on Sunday December 31 afternoon before a judge for indictment.

The victim died of sepsis

According to the first elements of the investigation, communicated by the prosecution, this man died as a result of repeated mistreatment. Friday, December 29, it was one of the two members of the couple who called the police, explaining that they had hit and killed a person they were hosting. Upon arriving, the police discovered the body of the fifty-year-old in the home.

The autopsy carried out revealed traces of blows, but also that the victim had received pellets fired from a rifle, recognized by the husband in police custody. According to the autopsy, the beatings were not fatal, but the lack of treatment was, with the victim dying of septicemia. The woman, for her part, is also implicated. “It seems difficult that she was not at least aware of the abuse in this case, the investigation will have to determine her role”explains Laurent de Caigny to France Bleu Drôme Ardèche.