To their pain as parents, to the horror of the crime which took their daughter Eva Bourseau, 23, killed in a sordid way by two drug addicted students almost six years ago, is now added the incomprehension facing the Fund. guarantee of victims and justice.
Christophe Bourseau and his ex-wife came out bruised from a hearing before the Compensation Commission for Crime Victims (Civi) on February 11 at the Toulouse court (Haute-Garonne).
"It is unbearable for them to hear that their daughter, whose body was immersed in an acid bath, would be partly responsible for what happened to her," explains their lawyer Me Tiffany Dhuiège.
And all the more so as his so-called fault, which would motivate the reduction in their compensation, is based on erroneous reasons, ”she argues.
A little-known aspect of criminal cases, compensation for victims or their dependents is a long process parallel to the criminal procedure which often increases the difficulty.
In this case, at the end of the trial of the two murderers of their daughter, at the end of 2018, the parents of Eva Bourseau were awarded 80,000 euros in damages each by the Assize Court of Haute-Garonne.
In reality, these sums decided by judges - that convicts generally cannot pay - are never paid in full, but evaluated by the Victims Guarantee Fund, in charge of compensating victims, and assessed by a Civi , a specialized court which ultimately fixes the amount.
"A fault at 50% opposable to its beneficiaries"
"It is one more test in the victims' journey," said a criminal lawyer from Douai.
And which sometimes gives rise to lively controversy, as was the case with the case of a woman defenestrated by her violent partner in Le Mans in 2013, who had been refused maximum compensation on the grounds that she would not have had to go home.
Prior to the trial of the murderers of their daughter, in 2016, as is often the practice to deal with the material difficulties caused by such a tragedy and the costs of lawyers, the parents of Eva Bourseau had launched a first request to the Fund. guarantee of victims to obtain a provision.
“Under the guise of national solidarity, the Fund offered zero, believing that Eva had caused her own damage on the grounds that she had met her future murderers in the context of drug trafficking and that she would have owed a debt to their common dealer, wrong item!
»Recalls Me Dhuiège.
On this first request, the Civi had agreed to pay a provision, but it had also retained "a fault of the victim".
She estimated it at 50%, effectively reducing the parents' right to compensation by half.
It is this analysis - "by her participation in a tort activity", Eva Bourseau committed "a 50% fault enforceable against her beneficiaries" - that the Guarantee Fund retained to respond to the parents' second request.
And this analysis that the prosecution took over at the Civi hearing a fortnight ago, reports Me Tiffany Dhuiège.
"Eva Bourseau had no debt to her murderers"
The lawyer, who requested the attribution to the parents of the totality of the compensation fixed by the Assize Court, underlines: “For my clients, it is not a question of money.
If the Civi decides to reduce their indemnities, let it do so with other arguments!
The trial moved a little further from a motive linked to drug trafficking.
And Eva Bourseau owed no debt to her murderers.
"
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The Civi's decision was put under advisement as of April 15.
Asked about this file, the Guarantee Fund recalls that it "does not comment on individual cases" It specifies that it relied on "a decision rendered by the Civi (...) reducing the right to compensation of the victim by 50%, a position contested by the family ”and that he“ will apply the decision rendered by the competent court.
"
