Saturday April 6, 12:20 p.m. in the emergency entrance of Challans hospital, in Vendée: sitting in a wheelchair, an elderly woman is surrounded by two relatives and faces a nurse. A few meters away, other people are seated in a waiting room. At 12:22 p.m., two individuals entered followed by a third, who rushed in shirtless. Around them, a caregiver seems to be inquiring about their condition while, outside, we can see a crowd behind the glass door. Then, at 12:25 p.m., someone comes back, breaks down said door and everyone rushes out.
Seen from the outside this time, we see the arrival of the protagonists again, notably in a construction truck which parks across the street. Some are going back and forth between inside and outside when Guy, a stretcher bearer, passes by and receives a violent punch to the back of the head which leaves him completely knocked out. For long seconds, then minutes, the sixty-year-old remains face down on the ground, without anyone coming to the news. The scene stretches until the departure of the famous truck and the arrival of around ten nurses to finally take care of their colleague.
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These two films, captured by the establishment's video surveillance cameras, tell the same sequence, the one which, at the beginning of the month, caused a stir throughout the medical community, including the Ministry of Health, which is split with a message of support. Broadcast this Friday in the room of the Sables d'Olonne criminal court, where the perpetrator of the attack appeared, it sent a shudder through the ranks of the public. And a form of exasperation too when it came to the question of why. Because although the images are clear, they do not have any sound, and it is on this silence that the defense tried to rely, maintaining that the stretcher bearer had made insulting remarks stigmatizing the Traveler community.
Problem: only the accused puts forward this version, undermined by other witnesses. Another allegation explaining this sudden violence is that the treatment lasted too long for the attacker's liking. But here too the images and the timer are clear: barely three minutes passed between the arrival of the injured (victims of an electric shock) and the blow.
“What put you in this state?” asks the president.
– Panic, fear…
– But only 3 minutes have passed: Wasn't it going fast enough?
– That's the stretcher-bearer's sentence. He said : “Dirty travelers, you have nothing to do here”! »
A sentence that the victim's lawyer vigorously contests. Witnesses to the scene did not report it further. Maître Boezec sees it rather “a lure, even a provocation” to exonerate itself from all liability. Arrested two days after the events, Lionel Fauveau, 23, whose record already includes six entries for theft and faulty driving licenses, explains that he was distracted due to massive alcoholism that day and a state of significant panic. Because the two injured were none other than his own father and his cousin, who, once the attack was committed, preferred to leave the scene to seek treatment elsewhere.
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Unthinkable for the defense who believes that the hospital failed in its mission. “Letting an injured person leave by their own means is punishable by a fine of 8,000 euros”, dares to attack Master Raiffaud. Surreal! The president reframes the debates and reminds him “that the vital prognosis of the stretcher bearer was at risk for a moment and that we are not putting the hospital on trial here” !
Moreover, the images show it: without even being interested in Guy's fate, the protagonists all indeed left of their own accord, while the Challans caregivers warned neighboring establishments of their arrival… The prosecutor will speak of “cowardice” before requiring the maximum incurred, i.e. five years in prison. Ultimately, the court sentenced the perpetrator to four years in prison, two of which were suspended for two to three years, all accompanied by a committal warrant.
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He is also prohibited from appearing in Vendée, which, perhaps, will relieve Guy who is painfully recovering from his trauma. In his sixties, this unanimously appreciated stretcher bearer was given 21 days of temporary interruption of work and will undoubtedly have to undergo surgery. Not sure, according to his director, Francis Saint-Hubert, that he will be able to work again before retirement. Since then, the latter has hired a security agency to reassure its teams. Cost: €250,000 per year…
