The prosecution requested on Friday on appeal to the assizes the confirmation of life imprisonment for the man with psychiatric disorders who drove into a pizzeria in Seine-et-Marne in 2017, a "
cowardly
" act and "
exceptional seriousness
.
To discover
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David Patterson, 37, has been on trial for ten days in Créteil (Val-de-Marne) for driving a large engine at full speed on the terrace of a restaurant in the ZAC of the town of Sept. -Spells, killing a teenage girl and seriously injuring twelve clients.
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For the last day of a heavy trial, the benches of the civil parties are particularly provided and the fifty victims or relatives welded to the morning resumption of the hearing.
Descending from his platform, the Advocate General Christophe Auger comes to stand in the center of the Assize Court of Val-de-Marne, at the bar, to take his requisitions.
For an hour and a quarter, factual, the representative of the prosecution meticulously synthesizes the elements which, according to him, characterize the premeditation and the will to kill of the former security guard when, on August 14, 2017, at 8:11 p.m., he positions his vehicle of rental and throws it towards the terrace where families dine.
"
It is the cowardice of a man who deliberately ran into anonymous people who are having a good time seated in a pizzeria
", he castigates, asking for life imprisonment with a security period of 22 years, the maximum sentence.
Because even after five years of investigation, legal proceedings, two trials, David Patterson "
hardly acknowledges, half-heartedly, his criminal responsibility in this case and hides behind the mental state that he had at the time. facts
," he said.
inexplicable gesture
The accused, plump body and shaved head, face puffy from medication, has carefully studied the penal code in his cell and hopes to obtain a reduced sentence on appeal because of his psychiatric disorders.
Already found guilty of murder and attempted murder last year at first instance, he had been sentenced to life imprisonment.
The question of the "
alteration
" of discernment and its consequences on the criminal level has been the subject of bitter debates by psychiatrists called to the bar this week and constitutes the main issue of the appeal trial.
“
Who will support Mr. Patterson when he gets out of prison?
(...) What tells us that he will not decompensate again?
“, worries the Advocate General, who underlines his”
criminological dangerousness
“and the”
exceptional gravity of the facts
“.
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In the grip at the time of a delirium of persecution and going through a bad patch in his life, the accused is still unable to provide an explanation for his act of extreme violence, abandoning the victims to their total incomprehension.
“
Is it hatred of human beings?
A need for social recognition?
asks Christophe Auger, believing that there is "
no single cause
" for his act but rather a "
set of elements
".
In his argument on a case "
on the borders of medicine, on the borders of justice
", defense lawyer Eric Plouvier calls on the jury to take into account his client's illness and to consider an obligation of care.
“
You judge a mentally handicapped, a psychotic.
You are not judging an assassin!
“, he pleads.
The verdict is expected at the end of the day.