The judge challenges the defendant, who scrutinizes the audience in the courtroom with insistence. “Sir, this is where it’s happening.” Not enough to disconcert the young man. “If my eyes are there, my ears are here…”
It starts strong for Abdelffetah Tairi, 22 years old. He is on trial for violence. On April 6, rue Jo-Gouttebarge in Saint-Étienne, he injured another man with a stab in the shoulder. A deep wound, which resulted in an ITT (total incapacity for work) of seven days.
The defendant warms himself in the box. “This story does not date from today. They assaulted members of my family. It didn’t start with me: I was in prison! And when I left, it continued…”
“It was not a knife, but a vegetable peeler”
The blow of the blade? “It was not a knife, but a vegetable peeler. A neighbor threw it at me through the window. The other had arrived with an iron bar, threatening me with death. I saw my uncle take beatings. With the heat and the adrenaline, I didn’t think.”
For the victim, the civil party protests. “Following this wound, he must undergo surgery. A vegetable peeler that touches the bone is rare…”. The prosecutor is asking for ten months in prison.
“The other family is also known to the police. But not everything can be justified on the pretext of antecedents. And certainly not brandishing a gun in the street. There is a public order disturbance. And Mr. Tairi leaves prison, with a record of nine mentions which shows an anchoring in delinquency”.
In defence, Me Julien Rey invokes “self-defense. There are seventeen mentions of violence for the victim, while the defendant is not known for that. The victim lives on the hill of the Fathers, what is he doing here if not threatening the defendant? My client was in self-defense. What do you want to call the police rue Jo Gouttebarge? We all know that there is a problem behind the courthouse…”.
The court sentences Abdelffetah Tairi to twelve months in prison, with continued detention. During the trial, the young man let go. “When I took the axe, it wasn’t to hurt him! “And for what, then?” asked the judge. “To intimidate him”.