“This man hits her and kidnaps her.” It was the son of the alleged victim who sent the police images of his mother covered in bruises. The son accuses her companion. These photos are screenshots of a video exchange.
Yoann Vasseur, 42 years old, is being tried immediately for these domestic violencecommitted in December. He denies the charges against him. The violence allegedly occurred at Noyonin squatted accommodation, where other people live.
This couple presented as homeless regularly consumes alcohol and drugs, notably crack.
The accused and the victim accuse another
When the police arrived at the accommodation, the woman was hidden in the room, drunk. She shows traces of violence, but refuses to collaborate. The doctor just notes the visible injuries without setting an ITT (total incapacity for work).
He disputes it and says it’s the other tenant. Which is exactly the victim’s version. However, this individual was exonerated after being taken into police custody.
“I was violent against her twice, but not there,” defends the defendant. He admits to having thrown a spoon at him, which hit one of his teeth. “Is that why he is missing three teeth?” asks the court. “No, she fights a lot in the street. She drinks, uses drugs. That’s why he’s missing teeth. And the scabs on her head are because she’s scratching from crack.” He also admits to having pushed her once.
The accused wants to leave the victim
The victim receives the RSA on her son’s account. In a relationship with the defendant, she assures that what her son said “is nonsense”. However, the victim declared in the presence of her loved ones that Yoann Vasseur had actually hit her.
She always accuses the couple’s other acquaintance. He has also been banned from contacting her since the summer. “But I saw him again to collect some things and that’s when he hit me.” The person concerned contested this.
“I never kidnapped her,” he adds, regarding the son’s accusation. She’s the one who always comes back. I don’t hit her. I would like to leave her.”
Judged for recidivism
The forty-year-old has twenty mentions in his criminal record since 2004: traffic offenses, theft, extortion, contempt of bailiff, use and possession of drugs, death threats, receiving stolen property, non-performance of community service, carrying a weapon. And domestic violence committed when he lived in Poitiers. Hence this judgment in recidivism.
The defendant has a daughter studying in the North who is looked after by her mother. Recently passing through Toulouse, he returned to see his relatives in Noyonnais. A place where he found his bad friends and his addiction to crack. He takes methadone, but uses it on his partner’s prescription. Holder of a CAP in painting, his ambition is to quit drugs, find a job, then see his daughter again.
“He says he is innocent, but only recognizes things at the margins, like the throwing of a spoon, or a slap to the back of the head,” notes the prosecutor. The victim, absent, completely exonerates the defendant, pointing to another person. You have all the elements which point to violence committed by Mr. Vasseur. The son regularly has his mother on Snapchat and she talks to him about violence from Mr. Vasseur. The son has no reason to protect the other individual, knowing that he himself has filed a complaint against him.”
He requires thirty months in prison, including twelve months suspended on probation for two years. A sentence accompanied by a ban on contact with the partner and her son, on appearing at their homes, and in the town of Noyon. And obligations for psychiatric and addiction care, to follow a domestic violence awareness course and to work. The prosecutor requests continued detention.
“It would have been me, I would have admitted it”
Maître Chloé Tourre pleads for the probationary suspension: “In this case, two people were placed in police custody. My only certainty is that the lady was beaten. Everyone covers up for each other’s actions. Did Mr. Vasseur hit her? Maybe, I don’t know. We only have “objective” elements of testimony. There is nothing rational about this matter. It’s the world of crack in Noyon. To say that, as the son has filed a complaint against the other, he has no reason to protect him, is not proof of Mr. Vasseur’s guilt. There are two clans in this file.
“It would have been me, I would have admitted it,” concludes the defendant. All those who are against me are each other’s friends.”
He received twelve months in prison, six months of which were suspended for two years. With the required obligations.
