The man who ran over and killed a woman last weekend in Béziers was indicted for murder yesterday and jailed. This 49-year-old mother from Provence was hit by the car while she was in the parking lot of the restaurant where she had just celebrated the birthday of a friend. The driver had fled before being found with his passenger in the car which had finished its race in the ditch.
The driver did not know his victim, but justice nevertheless recognized the intentional side given the context of the evening. According to the first testimonies, the driver and the woman killed had no connection between them, they would not have even spoken during the evening spent a priori in the same restaurant. But an argument did break out with another group, and the driver would have uttered threatening words before going to retrieve his car and rush back to the parking lot. Some witnesses even affirm that he would have given a violent blow of the steering wheel not to avoid his victim but to run into her. For justice there is therefore a criminal intention. Added to this is the consumption of alcohol, three bottles of vodka for two during the evening without counting the joints which he admitted to having smoked.
The 46-year-old man and his 29-year-old passenger explained thatthey didn’t remember anything, the driver became aware of the seriousness of his act after having sobered up, “a big mistake” He said The driver already known to justice for driving under the influence of alcohol, and violence, (13 convictions on his criminal record) was therefore indicted for murder, hit-and-run and alcoholic driving in legal recidivism. He was remanded in custody. The passenger, also known for traffic offenses, was indicted for complicity in a hit-and-run and released under judicial supervision.