From our special correspondent in Clermont-Ferrand (Puy-de-Dôme)
“A dog poop turns into a pile of manure. » Master of the metaphorical art, Jean-Louis Borie reveals, when pleading, the feeling which animates him and the reason for his presence in the room of the Clermont-Ferrand criminal court. “An incident blown out of proportion” by the “continuous news channels”, denounces the lawyer. The “incident” in question, however, resulted in a prison sentence. Three months suspended sentence handed down this Thursday afternoon against his client, Dervis. This 44-year-old Franco-Turkish “papa hen” was prosecuted for having threatened to kill the principal of the Ambroise-Brugière high school on September 7.
The two previous days, his youngest, enrolled in first grade, showed up with an outfit deemed unsuitable, according to the circular sent by Gabriel Attal to all school heads. An outfit covering the entire body and reminiscent of the abaya. So, on the third day, the teenager was not accepted into class. She called her father in tears. He telephoned the principal at the end of the afternoon to “try to understand”, without being able to contact him directly. At the end of the line, he let go, venting his anger on the operator and then the CPE: “He’s starting to annoy me… I’m fed up with this school. I’m going to cut off his head. »
“There are some who really want to have their throats cut”
At the helm, the father with a bald head denies, with a contrite air, having uttered such threats, even if he admits to having lost patience. The switchboard operator, absent at the hearing, was nevertheless formal in front of the investigators. The CPE, too. “Does my daughter have to come home in a miniskirt? There are some who are really looking to have their throats slit,” the defendant is said to have indicated on the other side of the line.
“Why would these two people lie, sir,” asks prosecutor Françoise Chadefaux-Gallay. They are not victims. You did not attack them. So there is no reason to doubt their words. ” ” I don’t know. Maybe they were fixated on my daughter, that they were after her,” replies the person concerned, presenting himself as “a very calm guy”, usually. “He is not an S file, nor a radical Islamist”, supports Jean-Louis Borie, recalling that his criminal record does not contain any mention. “An accumulation of incomprehension caused him to get angry. But it’s just an annoyance,” insists the lawyer.
“These are chilling words”
“Other students were called to order. They went to change. They complied with what was asked of them and there is no difficulty,” replies from the other side of the bar, Jean-Paul Guinot, the lawyer for the civil parties. And turning to the defendant: “Sir, do you think that the majority of girls in France dress in the clothes that your daughter was wearing when she was excluded? No. To persist in wearing them despite the warnings is simply distrust. »
“This irritation does not deserve the disproportionate sanction requested,” Jean-Louis Borie is offended because the prosecutor has just requested a six-month suspended prison sentence. “He may be a charming colleague or neighbor, as many describe him, but that day, he did not have the attitude of an integrated citizen,” argues prosecutor Françoise Chadefaux-Gallay. And to drive the point home a little further: “These are chilling words. These are words that seek to threaten or intimidate. »
Sitting on the first floor, the father of the family, tucked into his hoodie, is not getting along. He gets off with a reduced sentence and a citizenship course to complete within six months “at his own expense”. ” Please excuse me. It will never happen again,” he promises, before leaving the courtroom.