It’s a heartbreaking story that Mediapart reported in its columns this Sunday, January 14. That Raymond Sebas, found dead at 76“struck by a heart attack” on a sidewalk in the town of Châtenay-Malabry (Hauts-de-Seine) on April 3, 2022.
“Monsieur Raymond”, as those who knew him called him, worked as a gardener in various pavilions near the Parc de Sceaux. But if he never complained according to testimonies, Raymond Sebas lived in great precariousness. In fact, he rented a parking space under the table, according to these same testimonies confirmed by a visit by the police who recovered his keys after his death in the Voltaire residence.
The box belonged to the family of the deputy, slayer of slumlords
In this windowless box, the photos published by Mediapart show a makeshift bed, some provisions and additional heating. According to other accounts, Mr. Raymond had lived there for several years, probably since 2008. But the testimony does not stop at the difficult life of the gardener. Indeed, according to the media, this box belonged to Michel Herbillon, LR deputy for Val-de-Marne and honorary mayor of Maisons-Alfort.
At 72, the MP has a long elected CV: mayor of Maisons-Alfort from 1992 to 2017, general councilor of Val-de-Marne from 1989 to 1998, elected to the Métropole du Grand Paris from 2017 to 2022, and deputy since 1997. In addition to receiving a comfortable deputy’s allowance (7,605.70 euros gross), and several others from different mandates, the elected official is best known for being a slayer of “sleep merchants” as Mediapart reminds us. In 2010, he proposed creating a financial penalty to force these owners to carry out work.
“A real slander” defends Michel Herbillon
On February 22, 2022, two months before the death of Raymond Sebas, Michel Herbillon tabled a bill in the National Assembly aimed at “recognizing the dignity of dependent elderly people” as a “great national cause”. Also the discovery of Mr. Raymond’s situation resonates as a great hypocrisy in view of the elected official’s struggles.
But the member for Val-de-Marne spoke this Monday evening on X (formerly Twitter) denouncing a “real slander”. In a long text posted on the social network, Michel Herbillon claims to have been unaware of Raymond Sebas’ situation, justifying that the box in question was attached to his parents’ residence.
In 2016, his mother, aged 90 at the time, made this room available to the gardener so that he could store his equipment at the request of the caretaker of the residence. The deputy assures that his mother did not know the situation of Raymond Sebas who would never have “mentioned his personal difficulties with [sa] mother”, only discovering the deceased’s living conditions after his death, through a real estate agency: “Which I deeply regret because I could have helped him. » Contacted by 20 minutesthe Nanterre public prosecutor’s office has not yet responded to our requests.