2023-10-02 11:11:00
The Namur Assize Court began the trial of Francis Vandy, 73, on Monday. After the reading of the indictment by Attorney General Pierre Hustin, President Gorlée proceeded to question the accused.
Francis Vandy, a former member of the Federal Judicial Police, was convicted of murder and assassination and weapons law offenses on September 29, 2022 and sentenced to 25 years in prison by the Court of assizes of Hainaut. Decision which was overturned by the Court of Cassation on February 8, 2023. It annulled the response of the Hainaut jury to the question of premeditation of the homicide committed on Gabriel Ghelmegeanu, considering that the motivation adopted did not justify the qualification retained.
The acts were committed on August 28, 2019 in Forchies-la-Marche (Fontaine-l’Evêque) once morest two brothers of Romanian origin. “I was breeding in my pond. I had already had nearly 50,000 euros worth of fish stolen from me. I had already seen and driven away one of these men twice, in 2017 and 2018. That evening, like every day, I had my weapon on me. I saw all three of them a few meters from me. I asked them to leave and they charged at me. I fired a warning shot with my Glock 26 because I felt threatened. Then I emptied my pepper spray but it didn’t work, maybe it was expired. ”
Vandy then explains that he was beaten. “I panicked because during a previous visit they had already made a sign to cut my throat, a death threat. I was in danger of being hit or falling into the water and I can no longer swim well. I obeyed my survival instinct and shot the first one. The second arrived and I fired, when he was also in contact, at close range. The third left. ”
The accused says he regrets his action. “It’s sad and should never have happened. It was kill or be killed. I only had one thing in mind when I saw them, leaving the place. It wasn’t possible, I was like a rat, I panicked and shot, I was in a daze. It was an instinctive shot. If I denied it at first, it was time to shelter my family, for fear of reprisals. If I hadn’t been intercepted, I would have surrendered. I bitterly regret, I apologize to the family, I take full responsibility for what I did.”
Vandy, who had a multitude of weapons at home, both hunting and shooting, recalled his arrest: “I don’t understand why I was arrested like a terrorist, it’s shameful and I filed a complaint. They knew I had been a cop and I was treated brutally, like a criminal, like Salah Abdeslam.”
If the accused’s criminal record was clean before the facts, President Gorlée mentioned an incident. While he was a police officer, Vandy shot a man in the head in the woods of Ransart in 1986. “It was self-defense and my superior congratulated me on the precision of my shot. This man was a high-ranking member of the Turkish mafia in the narcotics sector. A bullet to the head is the only way to incapacitate someone on the spot. It falls immediately and there is no longer any risk. I have always been conditioned for this. ”
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