A punch in front of a Toulouse bar turned two lives upside down in November 2021, in Toulouse. Hugo, a rugby player, was convicted of seriously injuring Alain, the victim of significant head trauma. Self-defense was ruled out by the Toulouse criminal court.
Suit and white shirt, Hugo punctuates his interventions with a polite “Mr. President”. The costume does not hide the mass of this 25-year-old rugby player. Behind him, sitting, Alain listens. This fifty-year-old summarizes in three statements the consequences of a punch, which occurred in the early morning of November 21, 2021 in front of a night bar in the center of Toulouse.
“I suffered a major head trauma with a double intracranial hemorrhage and a fracture of the rock. I spent several days in a coma, in intensive care. I had to relearn everything: speak, walk, eat… Today, I lost my sense of taste and smell, plus hearing difficulties.”
Honking and exchange of insults
The evening of the tragedy, he was leaving an “important” meeting. While bringing a friend home, he found himself in front of the crowd of revelers on rue Gabriel-Péri. He honked his horn, insults flew. Someone hit the body of his Jaguar. Instead of continuing on his way, Alain parked and got out, determined to do battle. “He wasn’t walking straight,” said a witness.
He punched Hugo’s friend. The latter responded. Alain fell backwards. Violent fall, facilitated by his alcoholic impregnation. “I was scared,” defends Hugo who, with his friend, quickly left the scene. “I understood the consequences of my blow when my wife arrived in tears with an article from La Dépêche, the Sunday after my match.”
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The article announced that a man was between life and death. “On Sunday, he called us. On Monday, he was at my office. We notified the police. On Tuesday morning, he presented himself to the investigators”, summarizes Me Marie-Hélène Pibouleau, annoyed by the “artificial” leak put forward by the prosecution.
“Why did you strike and why did you leave so quickly?” asks President Didier Suc. “I was scared. Scared of the blow given to my friend, scared that the person who was with him in the car would intervene. I didn’t even look at this man on the ground. I walked away. I wanted to go home.” “Have you been drinking?” “Three drinks, I was sober.”
The prosecutor struggles to believe this version. It requires three years in prison, including eleven months. The magistrate rules out self-defense, even doubting a first blow given by the victim. A man “who beyond the serious consequences of his significant injuries has also lost his wife who divorced, and he no longer sees his son”, warns Me Valentine Le Conte des Floris, his lawyer. “At the hospital, they thought I was condemned to live in a chair,” confides this man, standing straight at the bar.
Self-defense? The defense claims
Only the after-effects prevent him from working. “It’s definitive,” assures his council. And daily life remains delicate. “I couldn’t imagine the consequences,” Hugo apologizes. “I reacted too quickly.” Can we qualify this “reaction” as self-defense? Me Pibouleau hangs on, convinced. “The question does not lie in the consequences, of course dramatic, but in the proportionality of the blow,” insists the lawyer.
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The court did not accept self-defense but reduced the quantum of the sentence. Two years suspended prison sentence and an estimate of the damage “for which you are 40% responsible”, warns the president to the victim. This man obtains 50,000 euros in advance, plus 2,000 euros for legal costs. A hearing on the merits, on civil compensation, is scheduled for December.
