The tone that rises between two motorists, beatings, the blood flowing, then… the irreparable.
All of this could have been avoided.
One night in spring 2017, in Vitry-sur-Seine, Sofiane was struck by a car driven by a young woman.
Since Monday, the accused, barely in her thirties, must enlighten the Assize Court of Val-de-Marne in Créteil on what leads her to this tragedy, which mourns a whole family and many relatives.
The former companion of the young woman, who appeared free, is also heard, but for willful violence with a weapon.
The facts take place on the night of April 30 to May 1, 2017, around 2:30 a.m.
Ilyes drives a Citroën C3.
In the cockpit, his little brother Sofiane and their sister, but also three of their friends, with whom they have just spent a very good evening in Paris.
The vehicle takes the direction of Vitry-sur-Seine, where the siblings live.
Everything goes normally when the driver of an Audi A1 cuts them off on Stalingrad Boulevard.
Ilyes shows his disapproval by honking his horn.
At the next red light, spirits heat up.
A little further, in the first meters of the Pierre-Lamouroux alley, the drivers get out of their vehicle.
Sofiane and the occupants of the two vehicles follow suit.
"It should never have happened that far"
Between the two drivers, the insults fuse, the first blows too. Have they been reciprocal? "The violence was on both sides," assures the driver of the Audi, the only one to appear this week for willful violence with a weapon, in this case a jack extracted from his trunk that he will smash on Ilyes' skull. "I took the jack to dissuade him from approaching me," he explains to his audience. “It should never have come this far,” he continues. The rest, I have nothing to do with it. "
“The rest” is played out in the wake of this altercation between the two motorists, while everyone tries to calm things down. A bus driver, assisting in the fist fight as he returns to the depot, decides to stop and to trigger its alert system and therefore the cameras and microphones fitted to its vehicle.
Sofiane manages to calm things down and walks away from the group, where blood and tears mingle.
Meanwhile, the one who was then the passenger of the driver of the Audi, and with whom she had had a relationship for a few months, takes the wheel, maneuvers to get out of the scene and leaves in the direction of Paris.
A hundred yards further on the boulevard, she turns back.
No braking maneuver before impact
At a speed of about 50 km / h, it collided with Sofiane, then alone on the bus tracks.
"I had not seen him", declares in the box of the accused the one who has been in pre-trial detention for a little over four years.
"I was scared, it happened very quickly, it was intense, everyone was screaming," she rewinds, in an attempt to explain her state of mind at the time of the drama.
Was his discernment altered, or even abolished at the time of the facts?
The three expertises carried out do not match.
According to the testimony of witnesses, no braking maneuver was carried out before the terrible shock.
It will prove fatal for Sofiane.
His death will be pronounced a few hours later.
Party in Tunisia, the couple is arrested in Roissy upon their return to France
The man recovers the steering wheel and the couple flees in the direction of Paris.
The car was found a few hours later parked in a service station in Thiais.
With the help of a friend and with their passport in their pocket, they take the road to Brussels (Belgium), from where they fly to Tunis (Tunisia).
Back in France, they were arrested on May 10, 2017 at Charles-de-Gaulle airport.
The driver of the Audi, already known for acts of violence, risks up to 6 years in prison.
His former companion, who must answer for a murder, can for her part be sentenced to a sentence of up to 30 years of criminal imprisonment.
Verdict expected this Friday.
