Dogs bark in Vergèze, neighbors argue, local resident sentenced for using a tear gas bomb, 3,000 euros fine

Le conflit de voisinage s'est retrouvé devant le tribunal correctionnel de Nîmes. HOCINE ROUAGDIA

Une dispute avait éclaté entre voisins à Vergèze sur fond d’aboiements de chiens. Un riverain ne supportait plus que sa voisine provoque l’aboiement de son en promenant le sien…. Il était jugé vendredi 8 mars devant le tribunal correctionnel de Nîmes pour violence avec arme

The   climate was already tense between these neighbors, inhabitants of Vergèze  whose dogs started barking, causing the irritation if not the anger of a fifty-year-old. In reality, this man also owned a dog and so did his neighbor. But one's animal started barking when the other's animal passed by when it was walking near the house. of the fifty-year-old. Barking,   unfriendly exchanges and arguments punctuated the daily lives of these two families against a backdrop of animal cries. Like the day of October 22, 2022, when the owner's son went to walk the dog and the animal peed on the car.

"Do you mind if the dog pees on the car  ?"

The dog urination angered the neighbor who allegedly threw " you don't mind if the dog pees on the car ?" Barking would have accompanied the cador's pee and provoked great anger from the neighbor who was already quite angry about the noises of the animal causing a cascade of barking from his animal.  In short, wound up like a clock, the man asked that the son go get his parents for an explanation which ended in  real argument partly filmed by the cell phone of the neighbor who accuses the defendant of having used a trident to threaten them. What he disputes in procedure and the rest as he recalled this Friday March 8 during the criminal hearing with a single judge, chaired by Judge Samuel Serre.

"I, my dog, am going to walk him in the scrubland"

On the stand, visibly tired and moved to face justice, the defendant explains that his neighbors are passing by with their dog. and disturb him. " It's been two years since I slept, people come by at 10:30, 11:30 (11:30 p.m., editor's note) sometimes later. And I get up at 3:45 a.m. to go to work. It recalls the nuisance caused by animals who make each other bark. "Me my dog,  I'm going to walk him in the scrubland, a dog walks in the scrubland, not in a housing estate", he asserts with an accent  well-pronounced noon.

The lawyer of the  fifty-year-old asks  to his client to explain a little about his health situation. The man indicates that he has suffered a stroke and a ruptured aneurysm in the past. Health problems which weakened him and required particularly extensive care, particularly since his stroke in 2017. "As a speech therapist, I had to relearn writing", adds the defendant who is suspected of having sprayed his neighbor with tear gas. Which he denies and asks the president that she no longer comes to walk her dog in front of his house. The man claims to be exasperated.

"An act of violence has been committed"

The plaintiff's lawyer who has joined as a civil party ensures "that'an act of violence was committed"  and that the fifty-year-old "has the desire to escape his own responsibility". This type of behavior is not acceptable in a civilized society. and requests 1000 euros in damages and 1000 euros for lawyers' fees.

Arnaud Massip, the  Deputy Public Prosecutor, deplores that a simple neighborhood conflict linked to barking can turn into violence. He recommends a three-month suspended sentence and a ban on carrying  a weapon. The defense ensures  that the defendant acted in self-defense and that if the neighbor filmed the scene, she did not film the entire sequence of the argument. She pleads for release. The defendant who has the last word asks the president to prohibit them from passing through the housing estate, this must stop, I have lived there for 27 years. quot;. 

After deliberation, President Samuel Serre indicated the sanction: the defendant is found guilty of violence with a weapon and receives a fine of 3,000 euros and a ban on carrying or possessing a weapon for two years.

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