The accident now dates back more than a year. On January 28, 2022, Aloyse Boehler, 63, was in her watchtower in Achen, Moselle, when he was fatally hit by a bullet fired by Henri Schoenhentz, with whom he had gone hunting.
A year later, therefore, the Sarreguemines court sentenced the 68-year-old shooter to two years in prison on Monday. Justice also pronounced a definitive withdrawal of the hunting license of Henri Schoenhentz and the confiscation of the weapons in his possession.
The prosecution had demanded a three-year suspended prison sentence for manslaughter. But the family of the victim, Aloyse Boehler, said they were satisfied with the additional sentences. “What mattered to me was that he could never carry a weapon again,” reacted Anne Boehler, 34, the daughter of the deceased.
While in police custody, Henri Schoenhentz explained that he had shot “a deer” that he had “missed”, from another watchtower 400 meters away. As night fell, with no news from Mr. Boehler, he went to check at the watchtower where he found him unconscious, he explained to the gendarmes. He then called a friend before alerting the firefighters, who arrived more than an hour and a half after the shooting.
“He never had an apology to us”
The shooter “was excluded from the hunts because he was known to be a bad hunter”, said during the trial in early January the lawyer for the civil party, Me Benoît Coussy. During the hearing, he remained “in a form of denial”, the council pointed out.
Henri Schoenhentz did not come for the deliberation. “At no time did he show an ounce of empathy towards us,” lamented the Boehler family. “His behavior today is consistent with the fact that he has never had an apology to us since the tragedy. The person concerned has ten days to appeal.