Balcony collapsed: the apologies of the defendants on the last day of the trial

Judgment was reserved for May 31 at 09 a.m.

Patrick Bonnel, 72, manager of the structural work company, asked "all the victims and their families to accept (his) apologies", regretting "not having been able to pronounce this word forgiveness" before. "Maybe I was ashamed, maybe it's modesty," he sketched.

"I imagined myself, if one of my children had fallen from this balcony: could I have forgiven?" Asked Mr. Bonnel.

"I inadvertently hurt people, I am deeply sorry", also confided the works manager Éric Morand, saying to himself "deeply bruised by the evil of these people."

The site manager also asked "forgiveness". "Maybe too late, but I beg your pardon," he said.

Technical controller André de Douvan, 84, said he assumed "with shame" his "share of responsibility". "I hope that the expression + never again + will not remain an empty word," he said.

Finally, the architect Frédéric Rolland, 66, said he measured "that forgiveness is impossible" but "we can ask for it anyway". "All my thoughts go out to the victims and their families. They are people I can only love," added Mr. Rolland. "For the rest, my lawyers have said everything, I can't add anything more."

Prosecutor Éric Bouillard had requested on Wednesday sentences ranging from 18 months suspended to four years in prison, including two years firm.

The five defendants had been on trial since February 9 for homicide and involuntary injuries, after the collapse of a balcony on October 15, 2016 in Angers.

Antoine, 21, Benjamin, 23, Lou, 18, and Baptiste, 25, lost their lives in the accident, while fourteen other people were injured, some very seriously.