A courtroom in a courthouse (illustration).

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Camille Allain / 20 Minutes

Lilian, then aged two years and eleven months, had died on August 11, 2014, in a campsite in Messanges, on the Landes coast, choked with a piece of Knacki sausage.

The Herta company, prosecuted for manslaughter appears this Monday before the criminal court of Dax.

Herta, whose president Arnaud de Belloy will be present at the hearing, is attacked by Florence and Vincent Lerbey, a family from Bordeaux, for "manslaughter by manifestly deliberate violation of an obligation of safety or prudence" laid down by the Code of Consumption.

They don't want such a drama to happen again.

First aid

That day, after returning from the beach with a couple of friends and their children, the mother prepares the meal for the little ones.

On the menu, green beans and Knacki sausages that she cuts into slices.

After a few bites, Lilian gets up, takes his throat in his hands, he chokes.

Florence Lerbey immediately alerted her husband and her friend, a nurse anesthetist.

She tries to remove the piece from the little one's throat, make him cough, practice the Heimlich maneuver and pat him on the back, keeping him flat on her knees while the mother calls 15.

A material that can "stick to the trachea"

Dad also takes him by the feet, upside down.

Nothing works.

It's cardiac arrest.

The piece of sausage ends up being removed by the nurse using special pliers when the firefighters arrive.

But neither they nor the Samu will manage to restart the child's heart.

If the parents of Lilian finally lodged a complaint against Herta, "it is not for money but for there to be an awareness of consumers who ignore the dangerousness of this product", affirms to AFP Me Philippe Courtois, family lawyer.

The "diameter of these sausages corresponds to the esophagus of the smallest and their spongy material can stick to the trachea", he adds.

New mention with alert logo

At the time, only a "recommendation for the youngest" to cut into "very small pieces" was indicated on the packages.

Since 2015, at the request of the Lerbey family, a new mention with warning logo appears on the back of the packaging: “For children under 4 years old, cut the sausage lengthwise then into very small pieces in order to to prevent the risk of suffocation ”.

In a recent press release, Herta specifies having then, “in accordance with the wishes” of the Lerbey, encouraged other manufacturers of fine pasta sausages to use these terms, which they “mostly” did.

More visibility

Lilian's parents want this text to be put on the front of the packages for more visibility.

They would also like an advertising campaign to publicize this risk which has already been tragic for some other children.

In 2018, the Paris Court of Appeal in particular recognized Herta responsible for the handicap of a 3-year-old girl who had come close to death with a "Knacki ball" six years earlier, and compensated the parents, considering that the packaging did not sufficiently warn of the potential danger.

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