It is a “very severe” sentence, underlined Maître Raphaël Nisand, the victim’s lawyer at the end of the trial. But a sentence which “has the merit of being clear and clear and everyone will take it for granted: We have no right to attack a doctor when he comes to visit you”, greeted the advice.
The 32-year-old man, who shot a ball gun at a doctor during a home visit, after threatening him with death, was indeed sentenced on Monday to five years in prison by the criminal court of Mulhouse (Haut-Rhin), with warrant of deposit. “It still seems a bit big to me, I’m not an animal,” reacted the defendant to the statement of the deliberation.
“I skidded, I twisted”
Already well known to the courts and in a state of legal recidivism, he was notably sentenced in 2014 to ten years in prison by the Assize Court of Bas-Rhin for rape on a spouse and sexual assault on a minor under 15 years old. “I got agitated, there was a shot that went off but it was not supposed to go,” he tried to explain from the box during the hearing, to clarify his gesture. The defendant also mentioned a drug mixture to treat a toothache, which caused him to partially lose his discernment. “I skidded, I twisted”, he assured.
As a reminder, Saturday, in the middle of the day, the victim, a young doctor aged 30, went to an apartment in downtown Mulhouse for a home visit. The defendant’s companion had called SOS Médecins 68 two hours earlier, complaining of ankle pain. Quickly confronted with the aggressiveness of the patient’s companion, he had been threatened by a shotgun, which turned out to be a dummy, and hit in the thigh by ball shots.
The victim, shocked, was examined on Sunday by a doctor from the forensic institute of Mulhouse: he suffers from bruises and a day off work was prescribed for him, his advice having mentioned the absence of ITT . Following the attack and as a sign of protest, the branch of SOS Médecins in Mulhouse had interrupted all its home visits until Monday morning.