A retired police officer must appear in court for having killed his companion in 2011.
“It is neither serious nor proper that justice has been so slow and ineffective. Ten years to judge the death of a woman is inexplicable.” Lawyer in Montpellier, Me Maryse Pêchevis has just spent a decade fighting, alongside the family of Danielle Courrieu, for what appears to be feminicide to be tried in an assize court.
“I shot my friend in the head by accident”
On May 2, 2011, around 10 p.m., this 50-year-old was killed by a pistol bullet in the forehead, in her apartment on the Corniche, in Sète. “I shot my friend in the head by accident”, explains his companion, Michel Rigattieri, then 63 years old. This retired policeman, very drunk that night, has a passion for guns.
An involuntary manslaughter, for the examining magistrate
The victim is a depressed woman, traumatized by the suicide of her son. She has since had an aversion to guns. However, the man says that it was Danielle who wanted to handle this gun: by then trying to clean it, he would have involuntarily made the shot go off.
Locked up, he was released a year and a half later, the investigating judge concluding, in agreement with the Montpellier prosecutor’s office, in manslaughter. Surprising: the respondent’s version may seem inconsistent; neighbors evoke frequent arguments; Danielle has been seen several times with bruises on her face.
“Ten years to judge the death of a woman, it’s inexplicable”
After two dismissals requested by the defendant, the court of Montpellier rejected in May 2015 the idea of an accidental shooting: for the magistrates, we are probably facing a murder, and the case is under trial. “Until then, we were still within reasonable deadlines”, notes Me Pêchevis. But the prosecution appealed: “Despite my multiple letters, it took four and a half years for the case to go to the appeal court, and for the court to say the same thing as the tribunal. It’s mind-boggling. no explanation except negligence. “
Should we see there a disinterest at the time, among judges, in the fight against domestic violence, today a national judicial priority? “I do not have the feeling that justice here is indifferent to violence against women. In Montpellier, we have rather a good reactivity. Despite the slowness of justice, these are not the cases where we wait the longest . “
But the legal ordeal of the Danielle Courrieu file may not be finished, while the accused must appear this Monday before the Assize Court of Hérault. “I have not heard from my client for six months, and I have no intention of coming to Montpellier on Monday,” indicated last Wednesday to Free noon the Parisian lawyer who assisted him during the proceedings. Not sure under these conditions that the trial, even ten years later, can be held.
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