Alone, the judge sat down and read the court's decision: “Relax.”
A release due to “the absence of a causal link between possible breaches and the death of the child”.
This painful case was judged on Monday, February 12, but the three professional magistrates gave themselves two weeks to think about it.
This decision, rendered this Monday at the beginning of the afternoon by the Meaux criminal court, closes, perhaps temporarily, a tragedy which occurred at the Chêne gris campsite, in Pommeuse on August 3, 2022.
That day, around 8:30 p.m., a 5-year-old child was found unconscious at the bottom of the swimming pool.
He didn't know how to swim.
Despite the efforts of the firefighters and the Smur doctor, he could not be brought back to life.
He initially bathed in the paddling pool.
His parents watched him from the edge of the pool, outside the water.
He escaped their vigilance.
When the child was found, he was in the deep end, separated from the paddling pool by a low wall.
The whole question was whether the campsite and its manager were responsible.
No, said the deputy public prosecutor, requesting his release.
For her, there was “no causal link”.
However, it was agreed “that these requisitions will be experienced as violent.
But a dismissal could have been seen as unbearable.
At least today everyone was able to speak.
»
“A fantasy that doesn’t exist”
During the hearing, the family's lawyer, Me Antoine Lorget, protested against the investigations which he considered too light.
“I do not understand why there was no opening of a judicial investigation.
I requested additional investigation which was refused.
I find this shameful.
» For his part, Me Romain Fontès, pleaded that his client, the manager of the campsite, “does not deserve a criminal or moral conviction”.
Protesting against the attacks of his colleague representing the family of the deceased child, he said that “this den of neglect (which would be the campsite) was a fantasy that did not exist”.
Certainly, the manager was affected by this tragedy, “but compassion should not make him take responsibility”.
For his part, the lawyer for the manager's insurance company had not been nuanced.
“The MAIF considers that the death of this child was caused by the parents’ lack of supervision.
» During the reading of the judgment, which lasted only a few minutes, this Monday, only the insurer's lawyer was present.
The parents, who live in Brittany, did not make the trip.
We can understand them.