On Sunday, September 13, in the morning, a cyclist in his sixties was struck, from the front, by a vehicle traveling in the opposite direction. The driver did not see fit to stop and fled, leaving the victim there with a triple fracture of the tibia fibula, two sunken front ribs and multiple contusions. Quickly taken care of by the firefighters, he had been transferred to Mercy hospital where he is still bedridden to this day. Denounced by his companion, to whom the vehicle belongs, the driver was arrested by the gendarmes four days later. Placed in pre-trial detention, he was presented on Monday for immediate appearance before the Thionville criminal court.
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“It is a public danger”
“I did not realize that I had hit a cyclist,” he claims at the helm. “I thought more of an object. If I had known, I would have stopped. I have always taken responsibility for my actions, ”claims the defendant. He admits to having gone out the day before and having been drinking. “Maybe I still had some leftovers from my drink from the day before. “Leftover alcohol, no doubt, but also narcotics. Heroin addict since 2005, Jean Gatt, 37, domiciled in Fontoy, already has ten convictions related to traffic offenses, including several hit-and-run offenses. “It will have to stop,” admonishes the president of the court, Marie-Cécile Dupuis. “I’m sorry, I blame myself but I assure you that it was a click for me because it could have been much more serious. That I am condemned to prison, I assume ”, he still assures, falsely chivalrous.
A “defense” which does not convince the representative of the prosecution. “He tells us he’s sorry but I don’t believe it. He runs away every time he has an accident, he shies away from his responsibilities. It is a real public danger ”, concludes the deputy prosecutor, Marie-Pierre Châteauvieux, who requires against him a sentence of 18 months of imprisonment including 6 with probationary suspension. The court will go beyond these requisitions and condemn Jean Gatt to a 30-month prison sentence, 6 of which will be suspended for a period of 24 months. His driving license has been canceled and he will have to pay the victim provisional compensation of € 2,000. He was kept in detention.
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