The court of Cusset (Allier) will deliver its judgment on January 21 in the trial of the Palm Beach fire, a building in Vichy in which four people had died in 2011.
Read also: Opening of the trial of the Palm Beach fire which had killed 4 in Vichy
Almost nine years after the events, this trial bringing together some fifty victims and civil parties took an unexpected turn during the first day of hearing Thursday, November 26 with the request for the release of the public prosecutor's office towards the trustee and a resident, triggering the protests from civil party lawyers.
This "
total impunity is unintelligible,
" pleaded Eric Nury, lawyer for a victim's family.
Friday, the defense lawyers unsurprisingly pleaded for acquittal while the condominium manager Square Habitat is tried for "
intentional homicide
" because of alleged breaches and a resident for "
destruction, degradation or involuntary deterioration of a property
".
Me Jean-François Canis, resident's counsel, endeavored to demonstrate his client's lack of responsibility, inviting the court to "
reestablish the truth
" for this man who "
still lives in this building and meets people who have lived this drama
”.
"
Despite all the expertise, despite the length of the judicial investigation, in 2020 we are not able to determine the cause of the fire, no one is able to say why the Palm Beach has caught fire
", a- he asserted.
Experts had estimated that the fire had started from the laundry room of his client's apartment on the 4th floor where the investigation had determined that he had "
tinkered
" with an electrical installation.
The investigation also noted several breaches of the co-ownership manager, in particular the lack of means of evacuation on the 12th floor.
The dry column of the building constructed in 1962, which would have enabled firefighters to put out the fire more quickly, had been found to be defective and unusable.
Read also: Hérault: fire in a center to accommodate minors positive for Covid 19
For Me Louis-Maris De Roux, lawyer of Square Habitat, the trustee "
did everything that the law asked him to do
": "
reproach a trustee who arrives more than forty years after the construction of the building, defects affecting the structure (...) is improbable
”.
He also refuted any causal link between the death of the victims and the role of the trustee.
“
There is no fault that can be blamed against Square habitat but also against previous trustees,
” pleaded Julian Christen Coat, another lawyer for the organization.
During the night of January 31 to February 1, 2011, the fire set fire to the imposing 12-storey building, located on the banks of the Allier in Vichy and comprising 33 apartments.
The firefighters had carried out numerous evacuations.
But three women, aged 83, 93 and 95, had died in their apartments, poisoned by the smoke.
A fourth resident, 82, severely burned, died in hospital a few weeks later.
