The State was condemned for “gross negligence” to pay 100,000 euros in damages to the family of a woman murdered in 2014, in Grande-Synthe, in the North, by her ex-companion against whom she had complained , AFP learned on Monday from a judicial source.
On August 4, 2014, Isabelle Thomas was on the phone with emergency police when she and her parents were killed by her former spouse, after a chase in the streets of Grande-Synthe, near Dunkirk.
Several complaints lodged before the tragedy
This 49-year-old math teacher had filed a first complaint on June 27, 2014 for domestic violence. Her ex-companion, Patrick Lemoine, had been placed in police custody and then under judicial supervision with the ban on contacting her and was to be tried on August 13.
But he did not respect this judicial control, continuing to harass and follow his former partner by car, who filed a new complaint on July 10, then a handrail on July 23. Summoned again, Patrick Lemoine had not appeared at the police station.
Arrested after the triple assassination, Patrick Lemoine died on October 8, 2014 after hanging himself in his cell six days earlier.
The victims' sister and daughter, Cathy Thomas, and her son summoned the state on November 30, 2018 for "faulty functioning of the justice service", an extremely rare procedure. They claimed the total sum of 360,000 euros.
They had three complaints calling into question the responsibility of the State: the establishment of inadequate judicial control, the lack of response to the failure to comply with judicial control and the failure of the police services at the time of the assassinations.
Justice recognizes police misconduct
In its judgment, dated March but released on Monday, the court dismissed two of the three grievances. On the other hand, he considered that a "fault" had been committed by the police, which "did not do everything" to find Patrick Lemoine when he violated his judicial control.
"This fault of the police services thus put Patrick Lemoine in a position to commit the three murders," stress the judges.
In compensation for this "gross negligence", the court ordered the state to pay 75,000 euros to Cathy Thomas as moral damages, as well as a sum of 25,000 euros to the nephew and grandson of the victims.
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- Justice
- Violence against women
- Assassination
- Conviction