Balcony collapsed in Angers: suspended prison sentence for three defendants, the architect released

The release of the 66-year-old architect provoked sighs and tears on the benches of the civil parties in the packed hall of the Angers court.

"I'm angry, I don't accept it. How can he be relaxed, continue on his merry way?", was surprised Nathalie Ferchaud, mother of Baptiste, who died at 25 in the collapse.

When reading the judgment, the president of the court stressed that "the architect's breaches of professional obligations" were "without a certain causal link with the collapse of the balcony".

It is however against Mr. Rolland that the heaviest sentence, four years in prison including two firm, had been required at the beginning of March, after nearly four weeks of hearing.

"What message are we giving to young architects? It's a painful decision," said Pascale Chéné, mother of Lou, 18, who also died in the accident.

On the other hand, the court recognized the civil liability of the architect, who will have to compensate the victims in the same way as the three convicted on the criminal side.

Frédéric Rolland's lawyer said he was "satisfied" with the judgment. "It is neither a victory nor a defeat, but the restitution of the reality of a construction site", told the press Me Cyrille Charbonneau.

"The court considered that all faults without a certain causal link, as well as faults not having the character of a qualified fault, should not be retained to establish criminal liability", specified the court in a press release. .

The works manager, Éric Morand, 53, was also released while the prosecution had requested three years in prison, including 18 months suspended, against him. The faults with which he is accused "are unrelated to the collapse of the balcony", estimated the court in this press release.

Pain

The boss of the construction company, Patrick Bonnel, 73, was on the other hand sentenced for injuries and involuntary homicides to three years in prison suspended and nearly 25.000 euros in fine.

Mr. Bonnel "did not ensure the training and competence of the site manager and the workers", which led to a "risk that he could not ignore as a construction professional", said said the president of the court.

Three years in prison, including one year suspended, had been requested against him.

The site manager Jean-Marcel Moreau, 63, and the representative of the Apave verification office, André de Douvan, 84, were both sentenced to 18 months suspended prison sentence and 1.000 euros fine, sentences in line with to requisitions.

"The main thing is that there are criminal convictions", reacted Me Marc Morin, lawyer for the civil parties. "All the difficulty of this case is that the consequences are dramatic but that the criminal conviction is for acts of an involuntary nature. The victims feel that the sentence imposed is unrelated to the pain they have suffered. "

"DIY"

On the evening of the tragedy, there were 18 students, in their twenties, chatting on a balcony of the "Le Surcouf" residence, in the center of Angers, when it suddenly fell into a void.

In the rubble, the firefighters had discovered the bodies of Lou, 18, Antoine, 21, Benjamin, 23, and Baptiste, 25. Fourteen other victims were hospitalized.

Heard during the trial, the experts had listed a whole series of defects in the construction of the balconies, going so far as to evoke a "form of DIY".

In their decision, the judges retained two causes at the origin of the drama: "the bad position of the upper steels intended to take up the tensile forces" and a "resumption of concreting not in conformity with the rules of the art", according to the court statement.