“Two people come and ask you to do something and you do it?
» asks the president of the Versailles judicial court.
“They could have found me with my car.
I was afraid.
They explained to me where the vehicle was, I went around two or three times to locate it before setting it on fire.
» This Monday, this 19-year-old was sentenced to six months in prison for “destruction of other people's property by dangerous means”.
During the night of Saturday to Sunday, February 25, this resident of Bezons (Val-d'Oise) was arrested a few minutes after setting fire to a Peugeot 308, parked at the Cité des Indes, in Sartrouville.
Thanks to the video surveillance system, the police quickly spotted and apprehended him.
When his Golf was searched, they found a can of red gasoline, a blue lighter and three gloves soaked in gasoline.
He very quickly admitted the facts and exonerated the friend who accompanied him.
He would have obeyed strangers out of fear
But the court is seeking to know more about the motivations for his action.
According to him, he obeyed “out of fear to strangers he met near a gym.
They allegedly asked him to set fire to this Peugeot 308. If he didn't do so "they were going to screw his mother".
“And you obey, you go get your friend and the gas you pay for, rather than fleeing,” asks the president, taken aback by such behavior.
It's worrying that you can start a fire like that.
Can we ask you anything?
Do you even know why they asked you to do this?
»
The young man responds laconically: “I didn’t ask the question.”
“Is this to settle a debt?
», continues the president.
“No, I get up every morning to go to work,” continues the young adult, who has an activity like Uber and wants to get a permanent contract as a delivery driver.
" It's incomprehensible.
You work, you have a salary, you have a girlfriend, you tell us you have no debt and you burn a car.
It's not a movie.
It could have been very serious.
»
“The contradictory versions” of the victim
The prosecutor shares this astonishment.
“This young man has chosen, for reasons he does not wish to give, to buy gasoline to set fire to a vehicle whose owner he says he does not know.
»
The absence of the victim also raised questions from the defense.
“The owner of the 308 made contradictory comments… And his car opened a few minutes just before the fire.
A beep is required to trigger the opening.
It doesn't open or light up by magic, points out his lawyer.
Monsieur is only the tool of these two individuals or of the person who claims to be a victim and is perhaps waiting for compensation from his vehicle.
Monsieur was fooled and manipulated.
»
The owner of the vehicle, who did not appear at this hearing, will have the opportunity to do so on May 27 during the hearing on civil interests.