“We want to make these cases examples” In the court of Pointe-à-Pitre, the immediate appearances in the aftermath of the violence

At the Pointe-à-Pître correctional court (Guadeloupe),

On the road leading to the Pointe-à-Pitre court this Monday morning, the carcasses of burnt vehicles, the broken windows of the shops still bear witness to yet another very agitated night in Guadeloupe. To access the courthouse, double-locked, it is necessary to show white paw, it is here that two hearings of immediate appearances have the heavy mission to judge 19 defendants, implicated in the abuses of the past weekend.

Receiving theft of sneakers, bottles of rum and peppers … The daily files follow each other and are alike. Most concern thefts of opportunity, like those of Nadine and Larry, both stopped at the same place: in front of the Super U supermarket in Pointe-à-Pitre, a few kilometers from the judicial compound.

Neighborhood residents, they loot, just after the robbery

In the box, Nadine is implicated for “attempted theft”. She is a 22-year-old Saint-Martinoise, extracurricular animator for young children who earns 460 euros per month. She is unknown to the justice services. The one who lives in shared accommodation in one of the hottest areas of the city, does not wish to speak, but remains faithful to her hearings. During the night from Saturday to last Sunday, while a hundred people pointed the supermarket with a grinder, she witnessed everything, from her room. Instinctively, she goes down, while she is only in pajamas. “I saw it was open, I thought about getting a bottle of liquid detergent at first, but I finally gave up on the idea. The young woman is arrested by the police in front of the entrance to the establishment.

Larry, too, is a local resident. He lives with his mother and is training in business. He too hung out there around 2:30 am, like several onlookers. Attracted by the banknotes, left on the ground, by the robbers, he enters the premises and seizes 130 euros, in cash. Only, out of fear, he fled when the mobile gendarmerie brigade arrived, and wounds an officer in the lip. The injury is mild and does not require Itt.

“The impression that we want to make examples of these files”

Both defended by Mr. Olivier Chipan, the defendants remained silent, leaving the leisure to their counsel, to ensure their interests. According to the lawyer, these young people are in a precarious situation: “I have the feeling that in these cases we want to make examples, to say that the police are doing the job well. But the people who were taken into custody were not the cause of the unrest, they just followed stupidly. They try to get out of it, we would like them to be scapegoats and make examples of them. “

Opposite, the public prosecutor represented by Michaël Ohayon said he was “stunned by what is happening in the department”. And to conclude: “We must not make a mistake in the debate. We are in a judicial forum, we are there to practice law and judge facts. A whole criminal chain is mobilized in this court with the prosecution, the police, the gendarmerie to provide a response to these acts. The answer will be based on the facts submitted to the prosecution. We fully assume! It is out of the question to let this type of behavior pass without there being a strong reaction, according to the whole range of prosecutions offered by the penal code and criminal procedure. How many families go to this Super U to eat? These acts of looting will mobilize us strongly. We cannot go and loot with impunity. These defendants participate in this opportunistic appropriation delinquency. “

The three collegiate hearing judges finally ruled by relaxing Nadine and sentencing Larry to 6 months with a warrant of committal.

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