Suspected of having assaulted the mayor of Pont-Hébert, in the Manche department, on Friday, a 38-year-old man was placed under judicial supervision pending his judgment in mid-July, the prosecution announced on Sunday. of Coutances.
Following “the aggression of Mr. Michel Richomme” and “after a rapid and effective intervention by the gendarmes”, the individual in question, aged 38, had been placed in police custody on charges of violence against no one. depositary of public authority, outrage and rebellion, according to Michaël Giraudet, public prosecutor of Coutances.
A man already followed in psychiatry
Known to justice and the services of the gendarmerie, the suspect had been the subject, for several years, of an adult protection measure as well as psychiatric monitoring, according to the same source. In the context of this case, an expert will also have to determine whether there has been an abolition or alteration of human discernment.
Presented on Saturday to a magistrate as part of an appearance procedure at short notice, the defendant was placed under judicial supervision pending the judgment which will take place on July 17. “In this context, he is prohibited from appearing in Pont-Hébert and from getting in touch with Mr. Michel Richomme, as well as the obligation to follow the care required by his condition”, according to the magistrate. “If he does not respect these prohibitions and obligations, he could be imprisoned”, warned the prosecutor.
According West France, Friday, the 75-year-old mayor went to meet this man who was causing a stir in the city center. This is where the respondent allegedly verbally and physically assaulted him, punching him in the stomach. A gesture that had been denounced by the president of the Manche departmental council, Jean Morin: “2,265 acts of violence against elected officials in 2022 (+32%), already 900 in 2023. They reflect a major civic crisis. Appropriate and urgent responses are needed,” he reacted. However, a law promulgated on January 24, 2023, is already making it possible to strengthen support for elected officials who are victims of attacks. The text provides in particular “to the assemblies of elected officials and to the various associations of elected officials to constitute a civil party to fully support, in criminal proceedings, a person invested with a public elective mandate who is the victim of aggression”.