Tall, bald and mustached, Ludovic L., 40, is the only one to confess before the Paris Assize Court, which has been judging seven men, aged 32 to 56, for the past two weeks for the robbery of the "caravan" of Prince of Saudi Arabia, Abdulaziz Bin Farad Al Saud.
These defendants, all known to the courts, answer for having, in August 2014 at the Porte de la Chapelle, held up the Mercedes Viano of this prince for damage which has never been established but could reach 700,000 euros.
Behind the windows of the box, this fellow from the community of travelers of Clichy-sous-Bois (Seine-Saint-Denis), explains his participation in this commando operation.
“People came to see me and ordered cars from me.
I stole both BMWs.
I parked them and changed the license plates.
And then, at the beginning of the afternoon, they came to pick them up before coming back to my house, around 5 p.m., because they needed a driver for a car theft.
My role was to stay in the 3 Series to block incoming traffic so that we could escape safely.
The attack lasted not even five seconds, I did not see a weapon and we left immediately. ”
Read also "He put the cannon on my neck": the driver tells about the hold-up of the Saudi prince's caravan
Ludovic confirms that they went to Saint-Mesmes (Seine-et-Marne) where the Viano and the Mercedes 3.35 were set on fire on a road.
"We took the suitcases and there were at least 200,000 vials of methadone," he exaggerates.
Ludovic pockets 59,000 euros during the sharing of the loot, carried out in a small park in his town.
“When I got home, I watched the television and saw that a Saudi prince had been robbed.
I told myself that I had done the biggest bullshit of my life.
I am a car thief.
I have never been a robber.
I have never had a weapon in my life and besides I don't like them because I took a bullet fired by the police which broke my pelvis in 2010. »
"I have a follower's record, a baltringue"
Questioned for long minutes by the president, Ludovic clears his co-defendants who were monitored by the police a few days before the events after an anonymous information was collected by the Cergy antenna manager of the DRPJ in Versailles. To justify the meetings that the police define as "conspiratorial", Ludo evokes a car sale, plumbing work in his trailer which was carried out by his acquaintances. "Mr. the president, saws are for cutting wood. The if it is not at the Assize Court, ”he summarizes to sweep the suspicions hanging over the other six. “I said it was done with Bulgarians. There was no research and the whole investigation begins with anonymous information. It is clear that someone wanted to do it backwards. ”
Read alsoBruno, the driver of the princes, he sold the coup to the robbers?
After the blow, Ludovic, without prudence, buys a caravan and a Renault Megane that he would never have been able to afford with his meager means.
His companion, drug addict like him, explains that she receives the RSA and that he brought back only 30 euros per day from scrap metal.
His criminal record is heavy with twenty convictions and his life is marked by many stays in prison between 2002 and 2012 for theft, drug trafficking, criminal conspiracy ...
He will even be imprisoned in 2007 in Spain for a drug case.
Between 2003 and 2004, he committed six car-ramming thefts.
"I have a record of follower, of baltringue," he remarks.
He moved to the West Indies in 2012, where he ran a jet-ski rental business with his mother.
But because her mother fell ill, they returned to live in France in January 2014.
"My life was just a debauchery"
During this period, he moved with his partner to the Clichy field. The accused confides that he consumed up to seven grams of cocaine per day before being arrested by the police of the BRB (Brigade for the repression of banditry). “I was a fat m… My life was nothing but debauchery. I was stealing and taking drugs. After my stomach cancer, I changed my life. ” Paradoxically, prison is a lifeline for the drug addict. There he learned to read and write and obtained three CAPs, notably in maintenance and cooking.
In 2018, he was released from prison, married a childhood friend, watched over his loved ones and worked in scrap metal.
Ludo claims to have drawn an end to delinquency, wishing, today, only to watch over his suffering wife too.
"He is a nice man, sums up his 18-year-old daughter during the investigation, but like everyone else he can get nervous."
But recently, he was reportedly caught up in his past, which led to him appearing in detention in another case.
The six other defendants have all denied the facts, repeating that they are "totally foreign" to this file and sometimes evoking the thesis of a plot hatched against them.
Next week will be devoted to the prosecutor's indictment and defense pleadings.
The verdict is expected on Friday, May 21.
