The fate of Angèle Houin, the image of her swollen face had aroused a wave of indignant reactions. On August 29, this 89-year-old Cannes resident was violently attacked by three minors aged 14 and 15, who left her unconscious on the forecourt of her residence to the west of the city.
This Wednesday afternoon, three months after the events, these teenagers placed in a closed educational center since September 1, and whose ages have only been revealed by the prosecution, will have to explain themselves to the Grasse children’s court during a a hearing behind closed doors.
Up to five years in prison and a fine of 7,500 euros
But what exactly are they at risk? Taken to the Cannes police station by his family the day after the incident, the perpetrator, aged 14, faces up to five years in prison and a fine of 7,500 euros, indicates to 20 minutes the parquet floor of Grasse. This is the maximum penalty for the qualification used: “theft with the circumstance that the acts were preceded, accompanied or followed by violence resulting in total incapacity for work not exceeding eight days, aggravated by a circumstance, in species the meeting”.
The 15-year-old boy who stole the bag from the octogenarian, once it fell to the ground, is being prosecuted for the same counts and risks a similar sanction. As for the third protagonist, also aged 14, and who filmed the facts, the latter faces up to two and a half years in prison and also a fine of 7,500 euros. For him, the court will have to rule on the qualification of “complicity in violence followed by incapacity not exceeding eight days with these circumstances that the facts were committed in a meeting and on a vulnerable person, by knowingly recording images relating to the commission of facts”. The prosecution does not specify whether these young individuals were already unfavorably known to the police or the justice system.
“Prison would not be the solution”, says the son of the victim
However, these “maximum penalties incurred” seem unlikely, as imprisonment is only pronounced for minors when other responses are not possible. If they are convicted, the three young teenagers will in any case not know the nature of their sanction until “a subsequent hearing” scheduled “within a period of between six and nine months” after that of this Wednesday devoted to the “examination of their guilt”, specifies the parquet floor of Grasse. At the same time, a civil action may be launched. In the meantime, if they are indeed found guilty, the juvenile court will order “the opening of a period of educational probation” and will rule on “the measures to which minors are subject during this period”.
A judicial measure of educational investigation (Mije) may in particular be decided. It aims to “collect and analyze elements on the school, family, health, social and educational situation of the young person and his family”, according to the Ministry of Justice. It can be accompanied by a temporary judicial educational measure (Mejp), which allows in particular to pronounce a ban on going to certain places or even getting in touch with the victim. Finally, if the judge deems it necessary, a security measure may be ordered. It can be a house arrest with an electronic bracelet, a judicial control and even, if the latter is not respected, a placement in pre-trial detention.
For Angèle Houin’s family, “prison would not be the solution”. “But they should be punished and it should serve as an example”, explains to 20 minutes René Ginola, the son of the octogenarian who will accompany him to the hearing. “My mother is strong, she recovered well. But today, she is obsessed with going out, walking in the street and that’s not normal. We must denounce these attacks and continue to denounce them so that they do not happen again, ”he breathes.
The steps are “undertaken” for the eviction of the families from their social housing
Pending court decisions, the families of the three minors concerned, whose responsibility has been pointed out, in particular by the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin, were also in the crosshairs of the mayor LR of Cannes. David Lisnard had quickly demanded that the aid granted to them be suspended and that they also be “expelled from the social housing from which they benefit”.
What about today ? “We had a return from CAF which unfortunately does not have the possibility of suspending aid”, announces the town hall of Cannes to 20 minutes. On the other hand, “for the request for eviction”, the latter “has been taken into account by the donors” and “the steps will be taken”, assures the community.