Mulhouse: five years in prison for the attacker of an SOS Médecins general practitioner

Europe 1 with AFP 8:06 p.m., August 29, 2022

A 32-year-old man, who had shot a ball gun at a doctor during a home visit, after threatening him with death, was sentenced Monday to five years in prison by the Mulhouse Criminal Court in the Haut-Rhin, with warrant of deposit.

"This sentence, very severe, has the merit of being clear and clear and everyone will take it for saying: 'We have no right to attack a doctor when he comes to visit you'" , greeted Me Raphaël Nisand, the victim's lawyer, who was not present at the hearing.

The man was already well known to justice

"It still seems a bit big to me, I'm not an animal," reacted the defendant to the statement of the deliberation.

Already well known to the courts and in a state of legal recidivism, he was notably sentenced in 2014 to ten years in prison by the Assize Court of Bas-Rhin for rape on a spouse and sexual assault on a minor under 15 years old.

“I got agitated, there was a shot that went off but it was not supposed to go off, he tried to explain during the hearing, to clarify his gesture.

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He also mentioned a drug mixture to treat a toothache, which caused him to partially lose his discernment.

"I skidded, I twisted," he summed up.

Saturday, in the middle of the day, the victim, a young doctor aged 30, went to an apartment in downtown Mulhouse for a home visit.

The defendant's companion had called SOS Médecins 68 two hours earlier, complaining of ankle pain.

Repeated death threats

Upon his arrival on site, the young professional was criticized for having entered the couple's apartment without clearly announcing himself.

While the doctor was trying to engage the discussion, the tenant of the apartment threw at him: "Shut your mouth, I'm going to smoke you".

“An expression like any other,” he awkwardly declared in front of the court.

The man then left for another room, before returning armed with what the doctor took for a shotgun, pointing the barrel at the practitioner's chest and repeating his death threats.

Frightened, the general practitioner decided to leave the premises and turned on his heels, before feeling two impacts in the right thigh, followed by violent pain.

He warned the police who arrested the author and noted the factitious nature of the weapon, a shotgun.

“I have already found myself in front of a dummy weapon and I peed on it, I understand that”, also noted the author in front of the judges.

The Minister of Health "strongly" condemned the attack

The victim, shocked, was examined on Sunday by a doctor from the forensic institute of Mulhouse, he suffers from bruises and a day off work was prescribed for him, his advice having mentioned the absence of ITT .

Following the attack and as a sign of protest, the branch of SOS Médecins in Mulhouse had interrupted all its home visits until Monday morning.

"We are satisfied because we are only there to treat people, to do them good," reacted Frédéric Tryniszewski, president of SOS Doctors 68, who had filed a civil action.

"This will reassure our teams, and allow us to resume more calmly."

The defendant was also sentenced to a symbolic euro in damages, in accordance with what the civil parties claimed.

On Sunday, François Braun, the Minister of Health, had on Twitter "firmly" condemned the "inadmissible aggression" of the practitioner, addressing him "all (s) his support, as well as his relatives and all the teams" of SOS Doctors 68.