At the beginning of the summer, the family doctor of little Gabin, who died of hunger at 22 months in 2013, was found guilty of "failing to assist a person in danger".
This Friday, it is the parents of the deceased baby who awaited this very followed verdict.
Before the Haute-Vienne Assize Court of Appeal, Edouard Ruaud and Céline Vialette were sentenced to slightly less than the 17 years' imprisonment which they each received at the end of 2019.
Indeed, Gabin's mother was this time sentenced to 16 years in prison and the father to 14 years for "deprivation of care or food followed by the death of a minor of 15 years by parentage or person in authority".
The weight of a 3 month old child
At the time of his death in June 2013 in Creuse, Gabin weighed 5.825 kilos, the weight of a three month old child.
The investigation had noted the state of "extreme dirt" and "the extreme thinness" of the child, of which "one could count the ribs".
He suffered from cachexia, which is the loss of fatty tissue and muscles caused by extreme dehydration and undernutrition.
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The unbearable description of the last days of little Gabin, who died of hunger at 22 months
Before the Assize Court of Creuse, the parents, separated at the time of the child's death but still living under the same roof, had recognized shortcomings but denied any responsibility.
In Limoges, the president of the court Maryse Le Men Régnier noted that the two defendants, in particular the mother, had "come a long way" concerning their responsibility.
“For ten months that I have been imprisoned, I have been working with psychologists to understand what has happened, explained Céline Vialette, 35 years old - 41 years old for her ex-companion.
I was not well at that time.
There was no longer any communication between us.
I think we have forgotten it a lot.
"
Death "because of the selfishness" of his parents
“Feeding a child is what every parent expects.
This is the basis ”, assured Me Yves Crespin, lawyer for the association Enfant bleu-Enfance mistreated, the only civil party, during his plea.
According to him, Gabin "died because of the egoism" of her parents: "she preferred to leave with her lover, and to leave him in his addictions".
Céline Vialette "is not a murderer of children", for her part estimated her lawyer Me Chloé Bonnat.
“Physiologically, he died of hunger and thirst but humanly, he died of misery and abandonment,” added the lawyer, who denounced the failures and slowness of the investigation and justice, “miserable In this case according to her.
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In his indictment, Advocate General Claude Derens had asked the jurors to follow the verdict of 2019 and not to make a distinction between the sentence between the parents: "The slow agony of the child is the result of uncoordinated action but of criminal co-action.
They have an identical share and to do them a different fate would be a mistake ”.
