“Today, maybe it's better that I am incarcerated.
"Short hair and round face tucked into the collar of his denim jacket, Sébastien S. looks down and explains:" When I have been drinking, I say
yes
quite easily.
"But on February 17, 2018, to avoid the car accident which cost the life of his friend at the entrance to Savignies (Oise), he should have said" no ".
Tried for "manslaughter" with two aggravating circumstances, this 37-year-old man was sentenced on Tuesday by the Beauvais Criminal Court to 4 years in prison, two of which are closed.
He was also prohibited from retaking his driving license for 5 years and will have to pay 10,000 € to the victim's sister, as moral damage.
"I was 800 m from home, I thought I would walk home"
That night, Sébastien S., a trained truck driver, had nevertheless decided not to get behind the wheel.
Invited to a party in Beauvais, he has already drunk several beers and glasses of vodka.
“I was 800 m from home, I thought I was going back on foot,” says the thirty-something.
But around 2:30 am, his friend Quentin (the first name has been changed) receives a phone call from a young woman who had an accident after leaving the party.
Worried, he insisted with Sébastien S. to go and help him.
He refuses for the first time and ends up giving in.
The two friends hit the road.
After having driven a few kilometers on the main road 1, Sébastien S. and his passenger arrive in Savignies.
Despite the public lighting and good weather conditions, the driver - with 1.51 g of alcohol per liter of blood and traces of cocaine in the body - is surprised by the islet that divides the road in two at the entrance to the town.
"Every day I have to live with this death on my conscience"
After hitting it at 74 km / h instead of the authorized 50, he lost control of his Clio and rolled over several times before hitting a wall.
A few seconds after regaining consciousness, he finds Quentin on the ground, unconscious.
The latter, who had not fastened his seat belt, was thrown from the car.
During the autopsy, doctors will see fractures in the pelvis, ribs, cervical spine and perforation of the lungs.
Despite the intervention of the emergency services, the 38-year-old man died on the spot.
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Since this accident, Sébastien S.'s life “has not been the same”.
Insomnia, depression ... "Every day I have to live with this death on my conscience," he breathes.
And it is very hard.
"" He is a bruised man, who has felt guilty for 3 years and who knows that he has full responsibility for this accident ", summarizes his lawyer, M e Domitille Risbourg.
However, if he is incarcerated today, it is not for this manslaughter for which he was released four months later under judicial supervision.
"We tried everything with you"
No, his return to detention, he owes it to a new misconduct on October 13, 2020. Less than two years after the tragedy, Sébastien S. is checked in Beauvais by the police with 1.2 g of alcohol per liter of blood, positive for cannabis, without a license and with a passenger without a seatbelt at his side.
In court on November 2, the judges did not miss him and sentenced him to 15 months in prison.
"I returned home after a night out and a friend even more drunk than me asked me to come and get him," he tries to justify in vain.
“We tried everything with you, including penal constraint, annoys President David Rivet.
What must be done so that you understand that you should not drive under the influence of alcohol and drugs?
"
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"Whatever he says, he doesn't care," the sister slices in response.
At the bar, the latter recalls that she had to bury her brother "on her 39th birthday".
And to add, scathing: "I could never forgive him.
And I hope he will continue to have insomnia for a long time ... "