“All this could have been avoided”: Rennes footballer sentenced to two years in prison, suspended, after fatal scooter accident

Mathis Lambourde est un footballeur professionnel âgé de 18 ans, il joue au Stade Rennais. MAXPPP

Mathis Lambourde a été condamné à deux ans de prison avec sursis vendredi à Rennes pour l’homicide involontaire. Il avait renversé une piétonne avec sa trottinette en juin.

On June 18, Stéphanie Cadeau, 51, mother of two, was hit “violently” by the young player's scooter on a sidewalk in the center of Rennes.

Hit in the head in the fall, Ms. Cadeau, a festival producer and well-known in Rennes cultural circles, died six days later in hospital.

The victim was raising her two children alone

The presiding judge of the court, Marianne Gil, followed the prosecutor's instructions by sentencing the young footballer to a two-year suspended prison sentence and declaring him fully responsible for the facts. “You have these two years of prison hanging over your head for five years”, the president stressed to the striker and hopeful of the Rennes club.

Dressed in a white polo shirt and black pants, the young man expressed his regrets to the family. “I regret having made this choice to take this sidewalk and having made this choice to overtake her”, explains the young man at the bar.

“Looking back, it was dangerous behavior and I think it could have been avoided. It was a shock. I think about that lady, the life she could have had, and how it could have been avoided,” he continued. Present at the hearing, Lucie Cadeau, the victim's sister, addressed the defendant at the invitation of the presiding judge.