"Things have more than slipped": in the Oise, they tried to recover their stolen motorcycle and found on Leboncoin

Jérôme G., 24, one of the three defendants present this Friday at the Senlis court, does not lack confidence.

“Fortunately you came across responsible people like us!

“, he had declared on January 7 to the mother of the young minor… whom he had just kidnapped and sequestered for several hours.

A conversation that took place while he was bringing his victim back to his family, not without having slapped him twice.

Not sure that the 17-year-old teenager who paid the price appreciated his sense of responsibility, which is rather a total lack of discernment.

The whole affair starts with the theft, at the beginning of January, of two cross bikes in a box in Saint-Leu-la-Forêt (Val-d'Oise), belonging to two brothers, Morgan C., 24, and Grégory C. 36 years old.

Shortly after, one of the brothers was amazed to discover his stolen motorcycle for sale in an advertisement on the Leboncoin site.

Instead of notifying the police, the two brothers and their friend Jérôme decide to make an appointment with the seller of the ad, with the firm intention of recovering their property.

"We didn't know who we were going to fall on"

On January 7, at the meeting place, the Ercuis town hall square, a minor was waiting for them with one of the two stolen motorcycles.

A machine that he bought from an acquaintance, before deciding to resell it in view of the extent of the repairs to be expected.

Explanations that the three men who recover the motorcycle do not really want to hear and also intend to take the second one back in stride, by urgently questioning the miner to find out where it may well be.

Visibly unhappy with the answers, Jérôme G. slaps the young boy twice.

“He kept lying to me and disrespecting me, I slapped him twice, minimizes the person concerned.

We were fearful, we didn't know who we were going to run into, we didn't want to commit violence.

“A shyness that does not fit with the messages exchanged between them and other people on an application.

"See you tonight and we'll smash his fdp face!"

“, writes one of them.

"He thinks I'm his friend, we're all fine… this fdp of his dead!"

“Adds another the day after this first episode.

Because after having forced the minor to get into their truck, under the threat of an opinel and a gun according to the victim, to go to Cires-les-Mello where the second motorcycle could be, the trio finally brought the young man back to his family, promising to come back the next day to pick up the sum of 1000 euros, corresponding to the repairs on the first motorcycle.

"The contact with his mother went very well, she even offered us a drink", underlines Grégory C.

“We put the barrel of a gun to his temple”

The atmosphere seems less friendly the next day, when the trio and at least four other individuals return to Ercuis to conclude this alleged financial arrangement.

Terrified, the miner's family barricades themselves in a room of their accommodation and calls the gendarmerie, who come to disperse the crowd and free the besieged family.

"We came more numerous because we thought we were going to collect the second motorcycle", assure the three defendants.

“Things have more than slipped, with violence, weapons exhibited, estimates the public prosecutor of Senlis, Loïc Abrial.

The victim even affirms that in the truck, one put the barrel of a gun to him on the temple.

We cannot trivialize these facts and accept that these three individuals take the law into their own hands.

“For Me Fabienne Lacroix, lawyer for Grégory and Morgan, “it was not a punitive expedition and the statements of the victim varied a lot”.

“They brought the minor home and were neither aggressive nor threatening towards his family”, adds Me Émilie Rebourcet, in defense of Jérôme G.

The court, however, found the three men guilty of arrest and forcible confinement.

The least active of the three in the journey, Morgan C., was sentenced to 12 months in prison, including nine months of probation.

His brother, Grégory C., was sentenced to 12 months including six months of probation.

Finally, Jérôme G., author of the violence, was sentenced to 15 months in prison, including six months of probation.

All three are prohibited from coming into contact with the victim and his family and will serve the firm part of their sentence by wearing an electronic bracelet.