Behind the horror of the facts, the death of a dead man crushed by a vehicle on avenue Aristide-Briand in Toulon on January 9, 2017, a legal puzzle presents itself out of nowhere to the jurors of the Var Assize Court this weekend.
Driving his father’s Renault Espace that day, did Slim B. want to deliberately kill Antoine Novelli, injuring him in a classic altercation scene without imagining a tragic outcome or would the fifty-year-old be the victim of a dramatic road accident?
The iron bar was a club
Legal translation: Is Slim B. guilty of intentional homicide, intentional violence resulting in death without intention to cause it or involuntary manslaughter?
After having been sent before his judges for a time for willful violence, Slim B. is finally tried today for repeat murder (1).
However, it is the thesis of involuntary homicide that the main person concerned puts forward during his first speech before President Emmanuelle de Rosa: “Since the beginning, it remains accidental in my opinion” affirms the now thirty-year-old, presenting himself free at the bar. A version identical to the one he gave to the police almost eight years ago.
At the time, and as several witnesses to the facts stopped like them at a red light, Slim B. had seen Antoine Novelli get out of the Renault Trafic in which he was a passenger armed with a club. A wooden club of around forty centimeters and not a “scaffolding bar type iron bar” as the accused was able to mention during his custody. A weapon that Antoine Novelli will not even have time to raise above his head before being knocked down.
“Survival instinct”
Because animated by sound “survival instinct”Slim a “just tried to escape”. “I may have been careless, but I never wanted to hit him. I lost sight of him while maneuvering. I heard a noise that I must have confused with his weapon. »
Antoine criticized Slim for his dangerous driving. With insulting remarks, undoubtedly consequences of his blood alcohol level at the time of the events (1.36 g/l of blood). “But also because he couldn’t stand the slightest injustice” supports the victim’s older brother.
It was therefore the confrontation with an armed and threatening man that Slim B. would have sought to flee. “His reaction was disproportionate to what he accused me of” believes the accused.
“According to what he told me, he panicked at the sight of the iron bar, analyzes expert psychologist Cyril Rolando. He only saw her. His perception was altered by fear. But he could also have tried to come to terms with a reality that was too traumatic. »
So, he would not even have noticed that he had driven over the victim… “This is not possible, objects the police officer who made the findings on Slim B’s vehicle. He couldn’t ignore having hit someone. »
The jurors have until Friday to form a conviction.
1. As a repeat offender because he was already sentenced, in 2016, to a six-month suspended sentence for drug possession. He therefore faces life imprisonment.