On May 21, the court in Tarbes tried a 36-year-old man from Bagné, known unfavorably to the courts, for repeated violence. During an argument with his wife, he attacked the people who intervened to calm the situation.
“For several weeks we heard commotion and screaming in their house, this time I thought he physically assaulted his wife.” In the bar of the court in Tarbes on May 21, Vanessa Issermann, the parliamentary attaché of the representative Sylvia Ferrer (1st constituency of Hautes-Pyrénées), came to testify about the attack of which she and three other men were victims a week ago.
While she was in the premises of the office located on the Place de Strasbourg in Bagnères-de-Bigorre in the company of an intern and a colleague, she feared that her neighbor was a victim of domestic violence. “This time I heard an argument louder than usual. I was afraid for her so I went to see what was happening,” she told the judges.
Minutes earlier, an upstairs neighbor, Jordan D., a 36-year-old from Bagné who is not known to the courts, had returned to his house in the early afternoon quite tipsy after spending the morning drinking calvados at a bar on the Place des Coustous. Enough to annoy the partner who criticized him for his behavior. And the man didn’t just force the bottle. According to his own statements, he also abused cannabis in recent weeks.
A fight in the square
If the tension in the couple’s apartment was at its peak, Vanessa Isserman’s intervention to calm the situation did not have the desired effect. Far from calming down, Jordan D. turned his anger on the young woman.
“I was completely depraved,” he admitted at the hearing before one of the judges described in detail the escalation of violence that led to his arrest by the gendarmerie. “You insulted her profusely before you went out into the street. Sensing that the situation was getting worse, the intern present in the office came to Madame Isserman’s aid. “The latter then narrowly avoided a blow to the head. Jordan D, relaxed, spat and violently pushed the parliamentary attache to force her into the office premises.
“I resisted because I was afraid of staying in it with him,” she explained. At the same time, his colleague received a brochure that the attacker threw in his face. Faced with this surreal scene, a passer-by bravely intervened. In return, he was hit in the shoulder with an umbrella after Jordan D. went to pick him up from the house. When the police arrived at the scene, the man locked himself in the apartment without control. His wife finally convinced him to surrender.
Last chance
“He was unstoppable that day,” lamented the prosecutor, who asked for a sentence of 18 months in prison, including 4 months probation and parole, for the accused repeat offender.
A sentence that is too severe according to his lawyer, who highlighted the efforts his client has been making in recent months to fight addiction. “He has received treatment and it would be good if he continues that.” From the box, Jordan D. begged the judges to give him one last chance.
A request that the court approached with suspicion. Sentenced to 12 months in prison, including 9 months suspended and suspended, he will have to serve 4 months on electronic home monitoring in addition to the 12 months he was previously sentenced to.
“The slightest mistake leads to prison,” the president of the court firmly concluded.