Me Frank Discepoli, lawyer for Paolo F., the car driver of the Strepy drama, requested this morning the detention under an electronic bracelet for his client at the Tournai council chamber. The decision will be made this afternoon.
Paolo F.’s file, which was to be examined on Friday by the Tournai council chamber, was postponed until Tuesday, at the request of the defendant’s counsel. Me Frank Discepoli, the driver’s lawyer, asked for his client to be detained under an electronic bracelet.
“The king’s prosecutor mentioned a risk which was a risk of recidivism. From the moment when only this risk exists, it seemed to me that the fact of being kept in detention at home, therefore within the framework of surveillance electronics made it possible to meet this risk since, by definition, my client could no longer put his hand on a steering wheel since he could no longer even leave his home”explained the lawyer at the end of the hearing. “What I am asking is that he be kept in detention, it is not a release. It is to be kept in very strict detention but in a universe which is not the prison universe, which does not ‘brings absolutely nothing to him or to the victims, I think”he continued.
The driver would not be under house arrest in his home, but probably in another region, far from the families of the victims. Paolo F. was also questioned this morning about his driving habits and his very regular speeding, which however never resulted in legal proceedings, as was recalled this morning.
The Tournai council chamber confirmed on April 22, for the second time, the arrest warrant issued on March 22 against Paolo F. for the acts committed on March 20 in the context of the Strépy-Braquegnies carnival. . The driver had crashed his car into the carnival procession in the early morning, killing six people and injuring around thirty others. Paolo F. is being prosecuted for manslaughter and involuntary bodily harm resulting in death in the context of a road accident.
The physical and moral injuries of the victims
Among the injured in this tragedy, Antonio Gava, alderman at La Louvière, created an association to help victims and a closed group on Facebook. He spoke about the physical and mental situation of the victims today.
“Compared to the injured, some are still in a more than serious condition, I am thinking of the teacher and the partner of one of the deceased. Others have had or still have to have leg operations. There, there is has an evolution that will be very slow and to heal, it will take a long time. We had a moment of excitement during the first months since there were hospitals, insurance, psychological follow-ups were offered so it was fine. Here , we fall into a slightly calmer period. We sometimes find ourselves alone and the shocking images come back, and that’s when we crack”.