Death of Morgan Keane killed by a hunter: what you need to know about the trial

Benjamin Peter (in Cahors) with AFP 1:45 p.m., November 17, 2022

Julien, this young man who practiced hunting for the first year had shot Morgan Keane, 25, while he was chopping wood at his home in a village in the Lot.

"I saw a dark mass move, I fired," concedes Julien, his head down.

"It's engraved for life, I'm sorry," he continued.

The trial of the hunter who fired and the director of the hunt began Thursday morning before the Cahors criminal court. 

The accident occurred on December 2, 2020 in the late afternoon, as daylight was declining, in a hamlet in the village of Calvignac.

A wild boar hunt was organized in a wood near the property of the Franco-British.

The shooter will say he mistook it for a boar. 

>> Find Europe Midi in replay and podcast here

"A seasoned hunter would not have shot"

The gendarmes' investigation revealed that the shooter was inexperienced, did not know the area and that the beat had been poorly prepared and poorly conducted.

This hunter was notably "posted in an impossible place", where "a seasoned hunter would not have fired" without clearly identifying his target, estimates Benoit Coussy, lawyer for the victim's brother, Rowan Keane, who formed civil party.

For Benoit Coussy, it is necessary that all the hunters present that day take their responsibilities.

"We hope for a profound change in mentalities, for them to hunt further from the houses. We are also waiting for the director of the hunt to be sentenced, this would allow the whole community of hunters to show solidarity with each other and therefore to ensure on top of each other so that it doesn't happen again", he declared before adding "because what happened during this hunting party is symptomatic of the absence of communication since they had seen Morgan and Rowan earlier in the day and they were careful not to tell the shooters."

At the helm, the director of the hunt defends himself and reaffirms that he gave all the safety instructions before starting the hunting party, while conceding that he held this position "reluctantly" since no other hunter wanted do it.

The Federation of Lot Hunters, which has some 6,500 members, is also a civil party.

A systematic approach in this kind of trial, specifies its president Michel Bouscary.

>> LISTEN - 

Should hunting be banned?

The death of the young man had scandalized his relatives and opponents of hunting in the Lot, who created a collective, One day a hunter, demanding a change in the legislation on hunting.

Shortly before the opening of the hearing, Audrey Tindilière, a member of this collective, assured AFP that "many people support us", and that "80% of people are for measures strengthening the regulation of hunting , to better share nature with hunters". 

The president of the National Federation of Hunters (FNC) Willy Schraen hopes for "an exemplary conviction".

"Hunters who do not respect the elementary rules, we definitively exclude them from our ranks. This must not happen again. It is unacceptable, this error led to the death of a man. If we do not know what we shoot, we don't shoot," he insisted.

Up to three years in prison and a fine of 75,000 euros

Judged for "involuntary homicide", the author of the fatal shot and the director of the hunt, an experienced 51-year-old hunter, incur up to three years in prison, a 75,000 euro fine, the prohibition to hold a weapon for five years or the permanent withdrawal of their hunting licence.

For Audrey Tindilière, there should be better training for hunters and "more dissuasive sentences".

"It's a whole system that we denounce," she explains.

While welcoming the presence of the hunt director on the defendants' bench, a rather rare fact in this kind of trial, Me Coussy regretted that other hunters were not also judged for not having alerted to the presence of the victim. or for having left the scene after the fatal gunshot, without giving him assistance.

90 hunting accidents in 2021/2022

The author of the shooting, who came to hunt in the Lot for the day from the neighboring department of Aveyron where he resides, is under judicial supervision with a ban on hunting, possessing and carrying a weapon since his indictment on December 4. 2020.

In France, the number of hunting accidents has been falling for 20 years, according to the French Office for Biodiversity (OFB).

Nevertheless, for the 2021/22 season, the OFB recorded 90 hunting accidents, compared to 80 the previous season.

Among them, eight fatal accidents, including two involving non-hunter victims.

Judgment is expected to be reserved at a later date.