Beaten almost to death and burnt, for a "
bad look
"?
The trial of three men opened Thursday, March 4 at the Assises du Nord for the aggravated murder attempt in 2015 of a father, who has since remained disabled.
To read also: Photo-journalist attacked in Reims: a suspect indicted for "aggravated attempted murder"
During the night of May 27 to 28, 2015, Fabien Lherbier, a 41-year-old crane operator used to jogging before dawn, lost his dogs and left his home in Libercourt (Pas-de-Calais) in search of them, by car .
The emergency services will find him around 5:50 am, naked and inanimate near his charred vehicle in a field of Phalempin (North).
He had second-degree burns in 20% of his body and presented with head trauma, brain damage, and numerous fractures and wounds.
Long hospitalized, he had lost his memory, concerning that night and large areas of his life.
Almost six years later, he "
gets around with difficulty walking and in a wheelchair
," according to his lawyer, Me Damien Legrand.
In June 2015, an anonymous letter put investigators on the trail of a beating by three young people, in a neighboring city.
The author invited the gendarmes to check the video surveillance of a gas station.
Another anonymous testimony later referred to two cousins, Mohamed Ainaoui, 19, and Bilal Belgherbi, 20, evoking an assault that started with a "
bad look
".
Thanks to the station's video surveillance, the gendarmes identify a third man, Mohamed Boumaaraf, 22, who came to fill a gasoline can around 5:00 am aboard his Saxo, followed by the victim's Opel Corsa.
The accusation is based largely on his confession, corroborated by testimonies of relatives to whom he had confided and the analysis of phones.
Boumaaraf says he stumbled across the two cousins, very alcoholic, in the city.
On the arrival of Fabien Lherbier, an altercation would have broken out with Ainaoui, Belgherbi striking a bottle to the forty-year-old, before the two “
bait
” him.
He claims to have been forced, under the threat of two men deemed violent, to go get gasoline, then to Phalempin where the cousins would have set the car on fire, one of them taking the victim out of the trunk at the last minute. .
If the expert psychologist describes Boumaaraf as easily influenced, the prosecution sees him as an accomplice, who has never called for help.
Ainaoui, like Belgherbi, have always denied the facts, their advice raising the lack of material evidence.