The tragedy shocked the city of Bayonne on July 5, 2020. Philippe Monguillot, 59, bus driver, was struck by two passengers after a ticket check. Left brain dead, he died after five days in a coma. The two men accused of having killed him will be well judged for “willful violence resulting in death without intention to give it”, decided this Friday the chamber of the instruction of the court of appeal of Pau. The magistrates confirmed the decision of the investigating judge who had dismissed last May the qualification of “aggravated murder” defended by the Bayonne prosecutor’s office. He immediately appealed.
In a state of recidivism
The two men, suspected of the driver’s death, will on the other hand be tried by the Assize Court of Pyrénées-Atlantiques because they are both in a state of legal recidivism because of previous criminal convictions. They will be tried within a year and now face life imprisonment, with the aggravating circumstance that Philippe Monguillot was a person responsible for a public service mission. A third man, who had lodged the two alleged attackers after the fact, is also referred to this assize court for having provided his assistance
The circumstances of his death had caused a wave of emotion in Bayonne where a white march had brought together 6,000 people.