Le Figaro Nice
From an azure blue sky to a violent storm accompanied by torrential and deadly rains.
On the third day of the trial of a predicted catastrophe, dated October 3, 2015, which concerns the death by drowning of three residents of an Ephad in Biot (Alpes-Maritimes), trapped on the ground floor of Clos Saint- Grégoire, the Grasse public prosecutor's office made its requisitions on Thursday.
Suspended prison sentences were requested against the three defendants: one year suspended sentence for the former director of the establishment, Anaïs Gledel, and the natural risk manager of the town of Biot, Yann Pastierik;
18 months suspended sentence was requested against the former mayor of Biot, Guilaine Debras.
Finally, a fine of 50,000 euros was requested against the Orpea group.
The various defendants are being prosecuted for charges of “
involuntary manslaughter
” and “
endangering others
” in the context of this case which revives painful memories.
Floods in the west of the department claimed the lives of 20 people in October 2015.
The correctional hearing, scheduled over four days and closely followed, turned into a chronological analysis of the management of an orange alert issued by Météo-France in the Alpes-Maritimes for heavy rain and risk of flooding.
For the five lawyers of the civil parties – the families of the three victims – this did not provoke an adequate reaction from the municipal services of the town of Biot and the retirement home teams.
“What is being criticized is not having believed in this orange alert which required concrete actions
,” summarized deputy prosecutor Alain Guimbard.
Read also Deadly floods: in Grasse, the trial of a predicted disaster
“Simple phone call”
At the heart of the debate, the municipal protection plan (PCS), which the councilor at the time would not have applied in due time.
This approach would have allowed the evacuation of the residents of Clos Saint-Grégoire.
Instead, 21 of them remained at level zero, before a wave took away the lives in appalling conditions of Marguerite Armigliato (94 years old), Jacqueline Delhommeau (91 years old) and Josiane Chaix (82 years old). ).
Lionel Luca, mayor of the neighboring town of Villeneuve-Loubet, took the stand as a counter-example since that day, he had applied his PCS, thus initiating evacuations of campsites likely to be swept away by the waters .
No trace of a similar approach was put forward during the hearing, the former mayor judging it, with feedback from her services,
“ineffective”
.
For Me Philippe Soussi,
“a simple phone call”
to Ephad would have avoided the tragedy.
“It would have grown up on you to say: “We screwed up!”
,” said the lawyer, who said he was stunned by the
“nonsense”
of the defendants’ explanations.
In this case, Orpea was also not spared by the civil parties, who consider that the retirement home left its residents on the ground floor
“for financial reasons”
.
The teams of the specialized establishment, and its young manager at the time, Anaïs Gledel, also allegedly ignored a 2005 decree, taken since previous floods in the same place and which had led to the temporary closure of the establishment.
“Orpea and its director failed, they had no awareness on the subject and their provisions are obsolete
,” underlined the prosecution.
“It would have grown up on you to say: “We screwed up!”
»
Me Philippe Soussi, lawyer for the civil parties.
The retirement home was located next to an evacuation canal, bordering a red zone, and despite the creation of two retention basins, this had not avoided a violent and sudden overflow ten years later.
The civil parties who came to express themselves not without emotion recalled the painful memory of a phone call made to Ephad at the time of the first rains to reassure themselves of the situation within the establishment.
“
Don’t worry
,” they were told.
Before another phone call, shortly before 1 a.m., to tell them of the death of their loved one by drowning.
The floor will be given to the defense lawyers on Friday for the fourth day of the hearing at the Grasse criminal court.
The decision should be reserved.