It’s a video of a few seconds, a little jerky. We see a Malinois shepherd struggling, strangled by a tie against the grille of his cage. A plan also shows part of the broken fence. This video comes from the cell phone of Didier D., one of the main suspects in the so-called “horror kennel” affair, in Wavrin, in the North.
The defendant, without flinching, explains: “This was an emergency intervention on a dog which was in the process of destroying its cage. » According to him, the images should be used to justify the intervention if the animal, entrusted by an individual, had been injured. “He is still alive,” he assures to debunk the criticism.
No less than 83 identification chips removed from dogs
Thus defended himself, this Thursday, before the Lille court, Didier D., 59 years old, owner of this kennel, but also of a training and training center for dog agents, and even of a breeding farm. So many structures that he shared with his sons Yohan and Loïc, also implicated, in particular for “cruelty towards a domestic animal”.
“I am a bad manager, not a torturer. » During this first day of trial, Didier D. did not deviate from this line of defense, minimizing his role. In April 2022, the gendarmes discovered, during a search, 122 dogs installed in “deplorable hygienic conditions” and no fewer than 83 identification chips removed from dogs without authorization, suggesting trafficking.
A young Malinois dog was also found frozen, the victim of a skull injury. A usual practice sometimes ironically called “Picard”, according to the SMS exchanges between the defendants: “Chip removed from Picard”, “If it’s to earn 100 euros, it goes to the freezer”… But there too, no defendants did not assume.
“In ten years of practice, I have never seen that”
All these elements will nevertheless lead the public prosecutor to initiate proceedings. Especially since not much seemed to be operating within the rules within this multifunctional kennel: suspicions of misuse of company assets, falsification of documents or even concealed work.
But it is above all the testimonies of acts of mistreatment which punctuate this file deemed “significant” by the director of investigation of the departmental directorate of Population Protection (DDPP). “In ten years of practice, I have never seen this, particularly on medieval dressage techniques,” she explains on the stand.
“Were you the victim of a conspiracy?” »
Because in parallel with the images of strangulation of the Malinois, a testimony also mentions the fact that Yohan D. boasted of having timed the time it took a dog to die by strangulation: “2 minutes and 37 seconds”. “An invention to denigrate me,” retorts the person concerned. Another testimony speaks of the “helicopter”, a technique which consists of turning the animal by the leash before slamming it to the ground. “The delusions of a former employee who seeks to harm me,” defends Didier D., who calls him a “poor idiot.”
“Were you the victim of a conspiracy?” », Asks the president. “The accusations all come from the same sources,” replies the defendant. Severe face, authoritarian tone, the latter never gives up, denying all the elements of the investigation which could overwhelm him and often shifting the responsibility to his sons. “If I were really the boss, we wouldn’t be here,” he says.
“We’re at the commercial café”
For Me Jérôme Pianezza, his lawyer, the task consists, in fact, of limiting his client’s liability. “There is no direct testimony in this case. We are at the commercial café,” he says before adding that “the purchasing authorities, who regularly came to the site, never reported any sign of mistreatment.” These “purchasing authorities” are the army and the police who obtained their training dogs from Didier D.
A reason why the site was able to benefit from a certain leniency? The director of investigation of the DDPP admits “to having regularly received reports from individuals” and that “each attempt at control was met with refusals from the owner of the premises”. Opened in 1987, the site was able to prosper for more than thirty years, without problem. Until one day a local police officer decided to investigate. The trial is scheduled to end Friday.