Three of the four young men suspected of causing fires on Saturday July 16 at La Monzinière in Les Sables d’Olonne were found guilty on Wednesday by the City Court. Only one will sleep tonight in prison. The facts have been requalified as involuntary. Last weekend, around ten fires broke out in the afternoon. Fires that mobilized nearly 200 firefighters and the evacuation of around twenty homes, sometimes at the last minute.
Three defendants were therefore indeed sentenced, with sentences ranging from imprisonment to suspended sentences. Thus, one of them is as of this evening imprisoned in the remand center of Fontenay-le-Comte, because of his criminal record and a sentence which he has not served. The man in his twenties was thus sentenced to 24 months in prison including 14 months suspended sentence with probation. The other two were sentenced to 1 year in prison, including 6 months suspended and 15 months in prison and 5 months suspended. They will also have to respect an obligation of work, care, and to repair the damage caused. The prosecutor had requested in their regard, a warrant of committal. The court, on the other hand, followed him on the last question, the owner of the car, absent at the time of the facts. He was released.
Defendants victims of assault
During the two-hour hearing, the young men in their twenties denied their involvement in the fires. Each claims to have been the victim of an attack that day by two young people. A first would have taken place in a grocery store. The men would have demanded money from them before pursuing them in the parking lot of the well of hell, by the sea. “It was a scene of war says one of them. “They fired mortars at us”, he says again. A firework would even have landed on the rear shelf of their car, forcing them to leave it for a while.
A few minutes later, avenue de Talmont, in Les Sables d’Olonne, a new confrontation takes place, again with mortars. “JI was afraid. They even threatened me with a gun” add another.
Did they retort? They say no, but admit that one of them pulled off tricks. A fourth man of whom they only know the nickname, but no more. “A Ghost Author”quips the lawyer for the civil parties.
As for the outbreaks of fire, they did not see them. A version to which the public prosecutor opposes. One of the witnesses saw one of you on either side of Talmont Avenue, the magistrate also specified. “Another saw you looking at the flames while driving your car”he adds.
A trial tinged with current events?
Witnesses and testimonies far too thin and uncertain for the defense lawyers. In their pleadings, they thus denounced a trial tainted by current events and these fires which have ravaged France in recent days. “You have to find a culprit for this. They are ideal culprits”claims Master Karine Vreken, before concluding “emotion should not take precedence over justice“.
When the decision was announced, the lawyer whose client was imprisoned assured that justice had been done.