“They took a bullet in the head, I thought I was going to die”: the chilling account of the witness to the Plantiers massacre

Vincent, l'unique témoin de la tuerie, a été épargné par Valentin Marcone. Midi Libre – Michael Esdourrubailh

Tried for two murders at the Plantiers sawmill on May 11, 2021, Valentin Marcone, 32, has been appearing before the Gard court since Wednesday, January 24.

Valentin Marcone has been on trial since Wednesday, January 24 for a double intentional homicide with premeditation, committed on May 11, 2021 in the commune of Plantiers, in the Cévennes.

Subject to paranoid tendencies, introverted and unsociable, he could not have tolerated his boss discussing his supposed dismissal with a colleague and would have shot them down.

What to remember from the afternoon of this first day of hearing ?

The debates were marked, Wednesday afternoon, by the strong, courageous and chilling testimony of Vincent, the survivor of the killing.

"I saw my boss and my colleague get killed and die in front of my eyes"&amp ;nbsp;he reminds Attorney General Bertrand Baboulene.

According to his story, when this young man arrives at the sawmill, on May 11, 2021, in the morning, to start his working day, the tone rises very quickly between the boss Luc Teissonnière and Valentin Marcone, the accused, while Martial Guérin, an employee, is present.

"Luc said to Valentin: "The least we can do is that in the morning we say to each other hello" quite simply and it degenerated"says the witness on the stand. Who pursues.

"Valentin replied "shut up, I said hello". And then Martial said to him: "you'really have a fart in your helmet!" So Marcone told us: "You also shut your mouth". He opened his suit and pulled out". 

Vincent was spared after begging the shooter not to shoot him, the latter telling him that it was up to him, "he wouldn't do anything to him.

Supported at the hearing by a legal assistance dog, the witness recalls the scene of horror experienced when his lawyer Me Nougier asks him when he realizes that his two colleagues are dead.

"Luc, I saw his blood coming out of his head, I understood… Both of them, I saw that they had taken a bullet in the head, there was "0" lucky they are alive" he said.

"I thought I was going to die with them, I thought I was going to go there" reminds Vincent.

The terrible words of the accused

His lawyer then questions him about the terrible words spoken a little earlier by the accused who spared him by telling him that he would not would do nothing. What he had always said, before changing his position for this first day of hearing.

"If'he had been in front of me, I might have shot him, I don't know" now advances Marcone.  

"I had never heard him say that, it doesn't inspire me at all, I saw my life go by… I don't know" evacuates Vincent.

One thing is certain in any case: for the civil party, this morning of May 11, 2021, there was never any discussion between the two victims, Luc Teissonnière and his employee Martial Guérin, on the need to dismiss Valentin Marconne, which would have caused, according to the accused, his outburst. 

"No, there was not that discussion" he certifies.