Two years ago, a little girl was seriously intoxicated after drinking detergent, presented as fruit juice.
The restaurant owner was sentenced to a suspended fine of 26,000 euros and his company to a suspended fine of 26,500 euros.
Detergent had been served instead of fruit juice.
A restaurateur from Pornic (Loire-Atlantique) was sentenced this Monday to four suspended fines, two years after the poisoning of a 22-month-old girl at the Auberge de la Fontaine aux Bretons, we learned from of the defendant's lawyer.
There is "an acquittal on the intentional acts, therefore on the endangering of others, and there is a conviction on the involuntary injuries, and in repression, there are suspended fines", explained Fabien -Jean Garrigues, lawyer for the manager of the famous hotel-restaurant where the events took place in August 2019. The manager was sentenced to 26,000 euros in suspended fines and his company to 26,500 euros in suspended fines.
The father of the "angry" girl
“I am taken aback (…) I absolutely do not understand that one can condemn someone, that is to say admit that he made a mistake (…) and there is no concrete condemnation behind, that is to say that there is only reprieve ”, reacted Arnaud Kob, the father of the child. A six-month suspended prison sentence with a fine was requested in June at the Saint-Nazaire court.
“They don't have a fine, they don't have to pay anything, and yet the consequences are that my daughter is disabled, her esophagus is burned, it has been taken out and she will be disabled for life.
Today, she is still fed, for between 20 and 30% of her diet, by enteral tube, directly in her stomach ”, described Arnaud Kob about her child who will be four years old in September.
"The steps I took, I hoped that they would send a message of dissuasion," he lamented, claiming to be "angry as a father, and as a citizen".
The manager was not present during the accident
The accident occurred as a result of an error in which dishwasher detergent was poured into a bottle of fruit juice.
The bottle had been placed in the fridge, then served to the child at a time when the manager was not present in the establishment.
The decision “respects the pain of the family, because it would have been tragic for the family if no one was sentenced at that time.
After that it is undoubtedly not satisfactory because the real persons in charge are not there, they were not summoned ”, estimated Me Garrigues.
At L'Auberge de La Fontaine aux Bretons, an internal investigation led to changes in the restaurant's workforce.
The boss also asked his supplier to change the color and texture of the product in order to avoid any risk of confusion.
Society
Pornic: intoxicated with caustic soda, a girl has not eaten for a year
Miscellaneous
Loire-Atlantique: Detergent served instead of fruit juice, a severely burned girl
Justice
Pornic
Poisoning
Restaurant