It was an accident that marked the spirits. Dyears on the night of October 15 to 16, 2016 in Angers, the fall from a balcony cost the lives of 4 young people, 14 others were injured.
On the evening of the housewarming in the city center of Angers, Théophile and his little sister, Lou, were taking the air on the balcony on the 3rd floor with their friends when it collapses around 11 p.m. 18 young people are dragged into its fall. Four of them, three boys aged 21, 23 and 25, as well as Lou, 18, will not survive it.
Today, his brother wants answers. “It’s a triple mourning for him“, confides his lawyer Maître Louis René Penneau, “because he lost his sister but he also lost his two best friends, young people he had known since he was five or six years old. He is waiting with great impatience to hear what those responsible have to say about this tragedy and he is waiting, perhaps, for a judicial truth.“.
The investigation pointed to poor workmanship in the construction of the building and its balconies, placed on slabs cast in unsatisfactory conditions according to the judges.
Five people are indicted the architect Frédéric Rolland, Patrick Bonnel the boss of the structural work company, his site manager and his works manager, as well as the case manager of the control body, the Apave. With his colleague Me Thierry Fillion, the lawyer Pascal Rouillé defends the entrepreneur Patrick Bonnel implicated.
“There is a lot of concern at the idea of having to appear in a trial of this dimension, with this terrible accusation of having perhaps committed faults. From the start, after the astonishment, the total incomprehension, he contributed to the manifestation of the truth, within the framework of hearing what he was able to gather as documentation. Today he feels, of course, responsible for those who worked under his authority, he was in charge of the safety of these people and of those who were going to live there.
“The logic is first to listen to those who have suffered and are still suffering, it is first of all the trial of the word of the victims.”
Pascal Rouille, lawyerat franceinfo
Then there will be an attempt to understand what could have happened, why this building has these weaknesses at the start, why it deteriorated without the professionals in charge of building management reacting. Why didn’t we do the odd jobs that avoided the tragedy?” he asks himself.
The instruction however dismissed this hypothesis, pointing the finger at poor workmanship in the construction of the building and its balconies. Many experts will come to the bar during these three weeks of trial.