“I just wanted to defend myself”: “commercial” dispute escalates and ends in three stabbings in Montpellier

Le mis en cause a été écroué. Midi Libre – Illustration JEAN-MICHEL MART

Les faits ont eu lieu dimanche 4 août vers 23 heures sur l’Esplanade Charles-de-Gaulle. Le mis en cause a été jugé et condamné.

Three stab wounds! That's what a man received this Sunday, August 4, around 11 p.m., at the Esplanade Charles-de-Gaulle in Montpellier following a “commercial” dispute.

~6 0~p>Several weeks earlier, in fact, the person concerned had purchased a mobile phone for the modest sum of 20 euros. Except that the said cell phone was defective.

Missed appointments

He therefore approached the seller for the first time, a 26-year-old Somali, who arrived in France in 2017 and is now a political refugee, who explained to him that he was unable to reimburse him that day.

A new appointment was made for August 1st to wait for him to receive his unemployment benefit. When the day came, however, the transaction could not take place, as the buyer had forgotten to bring the phone.

There were exchanges of blows

“We arranged to meet on August 4th. But he came late that night. I only had 5 euros left on me. He insisted and asked for my phone instead. I didn't want to give it to him.”

“He got angry and the situation escalated. There was an exchange of blows and then he grabbed two glass bottles. He threw one at me and hit me with his phone."

"I then took out my small knife (he said it had a 15cm blade, the victim said it had a 20 to 25cm blade) to defend myself. I struck him, he put his hand on his face and parried it", the defendant explained.

Partially severed tendons

A violent blow that had the effect of severing more than 50% of several tendons in the victim's left hand, who escaped with an ITT of more than eight days.

To this must be added two superficial wounds. One on the right arm. The other on the left side.

I didn't want to kill him or hurt him

“I'm sorry for this turn of events. I didn't want to kill him or hurt him. I just wanted to defend myself. And I only gave him one blow."

"No", prosecutor Nemanja Despotovic interrupts him, "there were several stab wounds, that's a fact". "I don't remember", the defendant replied.

Close to the attempt homicide

It must be said that that evening, according to the victim's interviews, the accused was not in his normal state. Alcohol? Narcotics? History does not say so. It was only the next day that he was arrested and taken into custody.

“We are close to attempted homicide, I hope you realize that”, the representative of the public prosecutor apostrophizes him. “These are extremely serious facts."

And to request against him, despite a clean record, twelve months in prison with continued detention. Ten years of ban from French territory. And five years of carrying a weapon.

Eighteen months in prison

The defendant was sentenced to twenty-four months in prison, six of which were suspended on probation for two years. A period during which he will be subject to two obligations: care and compensation. And two bans: contact with the victim and appearing at the Esplanade for two years. Concerning the firm part, the magistrates ordered: his detention order.

On the other hand, while they imposed a five-year ban on owning a weapon as an additional sentence, they did not deem it appropriate to ban him from the national territory as requested by the prosecutor. No doubt touched by the plea of ​​Maître Yves Benjamin, the defense attorney, who explained that given the local political climate if his client returned to Somalia he risked death.

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