Europe 1 with AFP // Credits: Loic Venance /AFP 10:35 p.m., March 18, 2024
The 73-year-old retiree, accused of having killed his neighbor in 2021 because he was making too much noise, partially admitted the facts this Monday before the Hauts-de-Seine Assize Court.
Confessions which turned out to be disjointed due to the state of health of the accused.
The 73-year-old retiree, accused of having killed his neighbor in 2021 because he was making too much noise, admitted the facts half-heartedly on Monday before the Hauts-de-Seine Assize Court, while ensuring that his memory problems prevented him from giving details.
“It seems to me, I’m not sure,” muttered Bernard Sauvage from his wheelchair when the president of the Assize Court asked him if he had shot his neighbor on the first floor, in the building of 'Antony in the Parisian suburbs.
“It was three months of full-time noise, I couldn’t take it anymore. I got angry,” he explained.
Since the start of the procedure, Mr. Sauvage said he only remembered one thing on this day in September 2021: an argument with his neighbor, a father who had been renovating an apartment above his home for several weeks.
He was found dead a few meters from where other residents had seen them arguing, shot in the back.
The police quickly found Mr. Sauvage, who was taking his cat out on a leash in the street, not far from his building.
On his pants, the victim's blood.
On his clothes, traces of powder from the murder weapon.
“Everything is totally above ground and disconnected from reality,” the victim’s daughter was surprised before the jury.
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Disjointed confessions
In the wake of this deposition, the confessions of the retiree, who suffers from serious memory problems, turned out to be just as disjointed as his denials.
The judge, then the civil parties and the attorney general questioned him at length under the watchful eye of his lawyers, who never stopped recalling their client's heavy medical file.
“We can make him say whatever we want, you see,” said Melody Blanc, one of his two lawyers.
The psychiatric expert who examined Mr. Sauvage, who also suffered a stroke in detention, however estimated that he could criminally "be declared responsible by an assize court".
The president of the court reminded the accused that he had dragged the body several meters before covering it with bags.
“When you hide a body, you know that what you did was forbidden,” she summarized.
The verdict is expected on Tuesday.