Almost 3 years following the tragic death of her son Nicolas, Christine contacted our editorial staff via the orange Alert us button. The mother, a resident of Ham-Sur-Sambre, is still waiting for justice to be done: the driver who fatally mowed down her son is free. Christine denounces the slowness of justice, which prevents her from properly grieving.
December 8, 2019, 7:30 a.m. Christine will never forget this moment. Police officers, accompanied by a social worker, ring the doorbell of his home in Ham-Sur-Sambre. The mother of the family does not immediately understand what is happening. “They come back, and tell me they found my son’s body on the side of the highway“, recalls Christine, with a heavy heart. “So they ask me: ‘Can you tell us what your son was doing there?’. At first, I didn’t believe it, and then I immediately thought that it was his girlfriend who had abandoned him there.”
Overwhelmed and incredulous, Christine tells us that she has redone the thread of events. That morning, the police did indeed announce the death of his son, mowed down on the side of the highway in Spy. “At first I mightn’t believe it, I thought to myself ‘It’s not possible, he’s going to come back’, and followingwards I realized it was true.“
A nightmarish late night
Nicolas was only 33 at the time of the events. He has been in a relationship for several months with a young girl. Together, they decide to go out on a Saturday evening in December 2019 to a nightclub in Somme-Leuze. After this evening, the couple takes the road to his home. This is when the evening degenerates. “In the car, my son was on a video call with his sister“, says Christine. “Then, an argument broke out with his girlfriend, who was driving. She dropped him on the side of the highway.“
My son died instantly
Nicolas is then on the edge of the E42 at Spy, in the Namur region. He walks for ten minutes. “He was on the phone with her sister, and she heard ‘Oh god…’. He didn’t even finish his sentence, and was broke. The call was interrupted, my daughter Tried to call him back, but no response. She thought her girlfriend had come back for him, but that wasn’t the case.”
At this time, Nicolas has just been knocked down by a car. He lies on the side of the highway, while the driver flees, according to Christine’s explanations. “He was found by a couple passing by. They got off the highway to turn around and come back to see. They called the police directly. The gentleman wanted to help, but it was too late. According to the autopsy, my son died instantly.”
Almost 3 years later, still no justice
A few weeks following the accident, a young man from Charleroi was arrested. “He is thirty years old“, describes Christine. “He says he doesn’t remember anything, and his girlfriend explains that when he got home the next day, he was crying all day, and he had his car fixed. She was shattered all over, and he says he doesn’t remember!”
He left my son like a dog on the side of the highway
If Christine contacted our editorial staff via the orange Alert us button, it is because she is bitter, almost 3 years following the tragedy of her life. It is impossible for him to appease his anger until a judgment is rendered. Indeed, the procedure seems to take a colossal time. “I find it absurd that someone kills your child and he has nothing. He left my son like a dog on the side of the highway. And he is free: I recently saw on social networks that he had gone on vacation to Tunisia, quietly.”
From the first investigative duties, Christine is informed that the procedure should take a year. Then, the health crisis began, and the file somewhat went around in circles. Today, the health crisis is over, but the mother is still without news of justice. “The system is too slow”, denounces Christine. “I have the impression that nothing is done, and that the author will have nothing.”
An “abnormal” slowness
On the side of the parquet floor of Namur, the answer is not long in coming. “For this file, the instruction is finished“, replies the communications officer. “The substitute traced his final requisitions. The file is awaiting a fixing before the council chamber.
This is relatively good news for Christine, since it means that the procedure is following its course. The judicial holidays have further increased the expectation of the mother, but now that the return to school has begun, the file is in the hands of the council chamber. “The indictment of the prosecution is drafted“, confirms Pierre-Yves Gillet, Christine’s lawyer. “The chamber will decide on the referral either to correctional or to a police court. Or even a dismissal, if there are not enough elements.
No date has currently been set for the in-chamber hearing. Once this hearing has arrived, Christine’s lawyer will be able to consult the file in order to better understand what took so long during the investigation, that is to say the development of the investigation. “The delay is indeed abnormally long“, says the lawyer. “It is still an accident that took place in 2019.”
According to the information at his disposal, the investigation has been delayed in particular because of the report of an automobile expert which took time to prepare. This report made it possible to formally link the car debris found with the model of the alleged perpetrator’s car. Pierre-Yves Gillet is hopeful that a final decision can be made within a few months, at the end of 2022, or at the beginning of 2023.
A mourning made impossible
Lawyer Pierre-Yves Gillet underlines one of the most essential points: “The fact of being able to be in front of the author, to hear a judgment, makes it possible to mourn. Here, the suffering has been going on for a long time. It is a stage in the evolution of mourning, and it cannot be done .”
Indeed, Christine still lives in a state of alert, and cannot begin the next steps until the judgment is rendered. “I was asked if I wanted psychological help, but I refused“, explains the mother to us. “I don’t need it, I’m still mad, because there was no justice, and because this was done to my son. Yet the first judge I saw told me to let go of my rage, but I won’t.”
I visit him every day at the cemetery
The alleged perpetrator is charged with manslaughter, but remains free pending trial, as he does not fall under the conditions of preventive detention. He risks a sentence of 3 months to 2 years in prison, as well as a fine of 50 to 1,000 euros. “These are not easy situations“, reacts Christine’s lawyer. “We must explain to our client that justice does its work, and that there are sometimes difficulties that delay the procedure. It’s hard to live with, for the victims.”
Of her son, Christine only has a few photos and personal effects. She remembers her surprise at Nicolas’ funeral, when she became aware of the crowd gathered that day to pay their respects. “He was very well known, because he was an independent plasterer in the region. The church was full, I had never seen so many people. He was sympathetic, and what happened to him touched a lot of people.” This is one more reason for Christine to fight for justice for her son. “I was very close to him, he came by every morning, we called each other every day. Today, I visit him every day at the cemetery. I would like the author to become aware of the emptiness he left us.”