“The most incredible drug addict we have ever met here”: he is convicted of dealing hard and synthetic drugs in the north of Gard

Le procès s'est tenu ce jeudi 30 janvier, au tribunal d'Alès, dans le Gard. MIDI LIBRE – CHARLES LEDUC

Until then unknown to the justice system, a forty-year-old was tried this Thursday, January 30, in immediate appearance, before the Alès criminal court, where he did not fail to puzzle the magistrates with his remarks.

Cocaine, ecstasy, MDMA… Living in Saint-Martin-de-Valgalgues, a town near Alès, this 41-year-old from Gard, with a clean criminal record, was arrested on Tuesday, January 28, for drug trafficking. Arrested following a police investigation opened in mid-October, following a tip-off, he initially denied being a trafficker and assured that the stock discovered at his home during a search (66 ecstasy tablets and 50g of MDMA packaged in a block) was intended for his own consumption.

A dealer for five years?

Tried in immediate appearance this Thursday, January 20, before the criminal court of the capital of the Cévennes, the forty-year-old first retracted his statement and admitted his business: “I am a consumer and I do this to finance my consumption. I do not make any profit from it.” This argument astonishes Élodie Thébaud, the presiding judge, given the quantity of drugs uncovered. The defendant is adamant, even though the hearing of a consumer suggests that he has been dealing for five years and even though the investigation reports five to six regular customers. “It's not a big business. It's for my consumption… and to help out colleagues”, he says.“I've been working since I was 16; I don't count on it to live.”

“It's all in my body…”, says the defendant

In his corner, an associate judge is counting what the forty-year-old says he's been ingesting: “And you're explaining to me that since you've been in pretrial detention, everything's fine, no shortages! ?!” Quentin Larroque, the deputy prosecutor, joins in the dance by recalling that €3,000 worth of goods were found at his home. Once again, the defendant denies being a big dealer: “You didn't find any money; it's all in my body…”

The defendant “minimizes to the extreme”

“The most incredible drug addict we've ever met here”, this is the view that the prosecution has of the accused. Quentin Larroque considers that the latter “minimizes to the extreme” and ends up confessing because he finds himself “with his back to the wall”. Against this man “well established” in hard drugs and synthetic drugs, he is requesting three years in prison, half of which is suspended probation, and continued detention. For Me Anaïs Farget, the sentence deserved is a suspended probation. According to him, with the statements of the consumers interviewed, “the image of the big dealer takes a hit” and “the question of the lifestyle demonstrates the fragility of the public prosecutor's theory”.

The sanction falls…

The magistrates of the court have a reading of the case far from that of the defense. They sentence this dealer, even if his criminal record is zero, to three years in prison, two of which are suspended probation. They also order him to remain in detention.

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