Driss Cauet, 20 years old, Younis El Mimouni, 20 years old, and Mohamed Tourabi, 21 years old, live with their parents in Méru (Oise). All three are being prosecuted for Toyota Rav4 thefts. At the end of four days in police custody, they were presented before the Beauvais criminal court to be tried immediately, Friday December 29.
Unanimously, they demand dismissal of their case the large volume of which could not be examined by the judges or their lawyers. The challenge of the hearing therefore boils down to defining the conditions under which they will await their trial.
The three are involved in numerous affairs
In total, Driss Cauet is being prosecuted for twenty-seven thefts, attempted thefts, receiving stolen goods (sometimes repeat offenses) as well as for meeting another defendant, Mohamed Tourabi, despite a ban. He is also accused of refusing to give the unlock code for his phone. In all, these are thirty-three crimes which he is accused of over a period of around eight months. He denies his involvement in these Toyota Rav4 thefts committed in Oise and its surroundings. He regrets being there, when he has just learned that he is going to be a father for the first time and when he already saw himself in an apartment with a wife and child, and especially when he is about to after two years of temporary employment to be hired on a fixed-term contract.
Her boyfriend, Mohamed Tourabiis involved, wrongly according to him, in eighteen affairs similar. As a repeat offender, he has already been convicted six times. He works a little as a forklift driver and wants to start a career in commerce with the help of a member of his family, in the north of the department. He confesses that he has already made many mistakes.
The last one, Younis El Mimouni, is only concerned with thirteen affairs. He also denies his participation. At the end of police custody. He has four convictions on his criminal record, he must carry out community service and learned that the prosecution had carried out a four-month prison sentence and that the sentence enforcement judge was favorable, in the event of sentence to the revocation of a suspended sentence of two months and another of three months. He therefore still has five months in prison which may end.
The prosecution wants to send them to pre-trial detention
The deputy prosecutor is in favor of placing the three defendants in pre-trial detention in order to avoid any consultation between them and to guarantee their representation at the referral hearing.
Driss Cauet’s lawyer, Charlotte Liwer of the Hauts-de-Seine bar, recalls that for the moment her client is presumed innocent and that the detention must be exceptional: “as the president indicated, he has the right to remain silent, which he did, and he is then criticized for it. He is accused of not having given the unlock code for his phone which was nevertheless examined by the police. He is going to be a father and is about to get a fixed-term contract after fighting for two years. Detention means loss of this job.»
It is then Benoît Varin who defends Mohamed Tourabi. He regrets the time when a file of this magnitude was entrusted to the investigating judge, which allowed the parties to prepare for the hearing.
Emmanuelle Grevot, defends Younis El Mimouni. She does not understand the usefulness of placing him in pre-trial detention: “anyway, he goes to prison for four months. He is at the disposal of justice until March. In such a short time he is not likely to be released, pre-trial detention is unjustifiable.”
Their trial will take place on January 17, 2025
The court places the three defendants in pre-trial detentionuntil their trial which will take place on January 17, 2025. In order to avoid consultation, Driss Cauet, whose lawyer indicated that he prefers to avoid Beauvais prison because of the rivalry between young people from Beauvais and those from Méru, leaves for Amiens prison. Mohamed Tourabi will be incarcerated in Lille prison, and Younis El Mimouni is leaving for Beauvais prison.
The civil parties present in the room – around ten out of the thirty victims – left the room in silence, while the president called on the police to ensure that the families and friends of the defendants evacuated the room.
