Terrible and dramatic case of “manslaughter” judged this Tuesday, January 4, 2020 before the correctional chamber of the judicial court of Bayonne. At the helm of the defendants, a 53-year-old Hendaye man who had to explain his responsibility in the death of his 10-year-old son on August 9, 2016. The child was diabetic but the dad got the wrong diagnosis and believed her child was suffering from simple gastroenteritis. Fatal error. It is the ex-wife of the defendant who brought the proceedings before the justice two years after the tragedy.
Lack of fatal insulin
Little Gorka’s life came to an end on the night of August 9, 2016 at the Bayonne hospital where he had just been transferred urgently by the firefighters. But too late. The child was to die of ketoacidosis. His body, lacking insulin for too long hours, could not withstand the shock. Her father had to explain himself for long hours this Tuesday, January 4 before the court chaired by Emmanuelle Adoul, aware that this case is not like the others. The Hendaye, who had sole custody of the child after his divorce, did not perceive the gravity of the evil. Diabetes was known for years in children, but in the eyes of the father, at that time, it turned into simple gastro. “I locked myself in a logic that turned out to be fatal. I took this as a symptom of a normal child, when he was not normal” explains the collapsed father.
Relaxe pleaded by the defendant’s defense
The daddy recognizes it, during the weekend, he did not control his son’s blood sugar. He also did not verify that the boy had pricked himself correctly. The call for help at 9 p.m. on Sunday evening came too late. “I’m not here to discard. Whatever happens, I will always have lost my child and I will always have this feeling of guilt. It is a scar that will remain open all my life.” “We are on the wrong scene “, underlines Me Nathalie Pignoux, lawyer of the father. “I do not believe that it is in front of you that satisfactory answers are given.” The defense pleaded for the release of the accused explaining “that a sanction would make no sense”.
Six months suspended sentence required by the prosecution
The public prosecutor Caroline Parizel concedes the difficulty for justice to respond to such a tragedy. “Justice has very minimal power in the face of the death of a child and the sanction which must be put into perspective because it seems that the gentleman has made an error of appreciation, which is human”, moderates the representative of the Public Minister little tempted by the role of accuser. It requires Six months suspended sentence.
For the civil party, on the other hand, no question of giving gifts to the accused. Me Vincent Le Luyer, lawyer for Gorka’s mother, denounces a “deadly gear and a faulty follow-up of the father “.
The judgment will be rendered on January 18.