On Tuesday, a 19-year-old young woman was sentenced to a one-year suspended prison sentence for accidentally killing a hiker in 2022 during a hunting trip in Cantal. Aged 17 at the time of the events, she was tried behind closed doors by the Aurillac children’s court. The hiker was hit by a stray bullet during a wild boar hunt in the town of Cassaniouze.
The hearing “was marked by mutual respect and empathy,” his lawyer, Me Denis Delcourt-Poudenx, told AFP. “We needed a sanction adapted to the situation, it is accepted, it will allow my client to rebuild her life,” he added. The hunting association which organized the hunt was fined 80,000 euros on Thursday, including 40,000 euros suspended for the faulty organization of the hunting party.
One case, two victims
For Me Denis Delcourt-Poudenx, “there are two victims in this accident”, the deceased woman and her client “who carries this fatal error in her heart every day because of circumstances which were not her fault. She should never have been put in this position, she should have had specific instructions.”
“This is the sanction that we expected given the facts, the minority of this young girl and the responsibility of the hunting association,” reacted to AFP Me Pierre Méral, lawyer for the victim’s companion .