The investigation into the death of a 13-year-old girl in a fire in February in Garges-lès-Gonesse (Val-d'Oise), led to the indictment of two men, owner and manager of a unworthy housing, announced Thursday July 7 the parquet floor of Pontoise.
The owner of the unsanitary apartment, examined in particular for "
aggravated manslaughter
" and "
deliberate endangerment of the lives of others
", was placed in pre-trial detention, detailed the prosecution.
The second man, responsible for extracting rent from the occupants, is suspected of "
subjecting several vulnerable people to unworthy accommodation conditions
", added this source.
Read alsoSeine-Saint-Denis: one dead in the fire of an apartment building
"smoke poisoning"
It all started four months earlier, when a fire broke out in broad daylight on the third floor of a building in this popular city, north of Paris.
The fire spread to neighboring apartments, before being extinguished by the firefighters but during the evacuation, the lifeless body of the young girl, living on the 8th floor, was found.
The autopsy concluded that “
the death resulted from his intoxication with the fumes having invaded the common parts of the building
”, traced the parquet floor.
The preliminary investigation then located the start of the fire: an apartment composed of rooms where “
about twenty occupants from Bangladesh
” lived, since at least 2019, “
all sleeping in twin beds, with four to six beds in each of the rooms of approximately 10 m2 and this in return for the payment of a monthly rent of 60 to 80 euros
”.
Many electrical devices - auxiliary heaters, equipment, chargers - present in each room, were "
connected to a single wall socket and located under the flammable mattresses
".
"
These accommodation conditions characterized conditions of over-occupation and in doing so, of unworthy housing
", also "
at the origin of the fatal fire
", considered the prosecution.
"
The fight against unworthy accommodation is a priority for action for the investigation services and the Pontoise public prosecutor's office, as several municipalities within the jurisdiction are largely concerned by this problem of accommodation contrary to human dignity
", he added. He underlines.
