The victim accuses him of having beaten her in the face and of having entered her home against her will.
But from the box of the Meaux criminal court on Monday, the forty-year-old – tried for violence against a vulnerable person and home invasion – vehemently contested: “I did not hit her.
I’m a gentleman, I have lots of girlfriends, she says that out of jealousy.”
Not quite the version of the woman with the bruised face sitting on a bench in the courtroom.
This 56-year-old Torcean, under reinforced guardianship, did not speak at the hearing, the trial having been postponed until March 15.
For a simple reason: the accused being himself a protected adult, a psychiatric expertise was necessary to judge him.
It was on Wednesday February 14 that the forty-year-old – whose family also lives in Torcy – allegedly hit this woman, whom he has known for a long time, in the face.
If the bonds of friendship brought them - for a time - closer together, it seems that the accused sometimes stayed at her house.
To the point that this mother, helped by her son, had to change the lock on her front door.
“My client is scared to death”
Not really enough to disconcert the defendant, who – last Thursday – entered her home, after removing the lock!
At the hearing, he contested this version and explained that… the door had slammed and he had lost his keys.
Before discussing his consumption of alcohol, cannabis, cocaine and sometimes crack.
The case will be studied on its merits at the next hearing.
Prosecutor Noémie Béguin requested his placement in pre-trial detention, pending trial: “The risk of pressure on the victim is very high”.
The forty-year-old, already convicted of violence and imprisoned twice, assured him: “I will not approach them, either closely or from afar.”
Me Laetitia Joffrin, the fifty-year-old's lawyer, did not hide it: “My client is scared to death, she must be protected.
He walks around with a knife and a hammer.
He's been coming to stay at her place for some time.
With his son, they try to get him out of the house.
He even comes with friends.”
Me Bogos Boghossian, the defense lawyer, tried to obtain a judicial review, with “a strict ban on appearing” near the home of the civil party.
In vain, the judges placed the defendant in pre-trial detention.