Two men are on trial from this Friday before the Pau Assize Court for their involvement in the death of a bus driver in Bayonne in July 2020. Accused of having carried out blows which led to his death, they are not tried for murder.
[Updated September 15, 2023 at 12:51 p.m.] The trial of two 25-year-old men, involved in the death of a bus driver in Bayonne in 2020, opens this Friday, September 15 in Pau, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques . They are appearing before the Pau Assize Court for “intentional violence leading to death without intention of inflicting death on an agent of a public passenger transport network operator in the exercise of or as a result of his duties”. Their trial is expected to last five days. If they repeat the offense, both men could face life imprisonment. A third person is also on trial in this trial for providing accommodation to the bus driver’s alleged attackers.
Wyssem M. and Maxime G. are on trial for beating Philippe Monguillot, a Bayonne trambus driver, on July 5, 2020. In a state of brain death, the driver then remained in a coma for five days before dying at the hospital. age 58. A highly anticipated trial for his family, three years after the events. “For my daughters, for myself, it’s three years of loss, three years of absence. I can’t grieve for the moment. I can only begin it thanks to justice.” testified Véronique Monguillot, the bereaved wife of the driver, on RMC.
Initially, the two accused were indicted for “aggravated murder”. These facts were then reclassified as “violence leading to death without intention of causing death on an agent of a public passenger transport network operator in the exercise of or due to his duties” in May 2022 by the judge Bayonne’s instruction, after the judicial investigation has ended.
A decision which aroused the indignation of Philippe Monguillot’s family. Reacting to this announcement on RMC a few hours after this reclassification of the facts, his wife declared: “There is everything in this file which shows that it is indeed a murder. My husband has been forgotten by the justice system. This is not not a fight gone wrong.” Véronique Monguillot then spoke of a “huge slap” delivered by the courts.
It is before an assize court composed of three magistrates and a popular jury that the two accused will be tried starting this Friday. They were initially referred to a departmental criminal court by the investigating judge. But the Bayonne prosecutor’s office and the victim’s family appealed the decision, obtaining the trial of the two men to take place at the Assize Court. The recidivism situation of the two men, who have already been convicted three times, particularly weighed in the balance. Wyssem M. was convicted of drug trafficking and aggravated theft, while Maxime G. was convicted of aggravated theft, attempted theft with violence and concealment of property.
As BFMTV recalls, the fight which led to the death of Philippe Monguillot was preceded by a first altercation between the driver and the two accused. On July 5, 2020, early in the afternoon, Wyssem M. and Maxime G. boarded the trambus driven by the driver. Philippe Monguillot then quickly gets out of his driving position and walks towards the two young men, installed in the back of the vehicle.
“We see Philippe Monguillot on the video surveillance images interposing between these two individuals without a ticket and without a mask,” says Me Alexandre Novion, the lawyer for the driver’s family, contacted by franceinfo. At his request, the two men agree to buy a ticket. “The images do not show any aggression on either side,” indicate the investigators, whose comments are reported by BFMTV. But for Me Alexandre Novion, “this first confrontation leaves its mark”. The news channel also indicates that a witness reported “insolent, outrageous words” uttered by the two men against Philippe Monguillot.
The tragedy will occur a few hours later, a little after 7 p.m. Wyssem M. and Maxime G. then board Philippe Monguillot’s bus a second time, accompanied by two other people, as indicated by franceinfo. They are installed at the bottom of the vehicle. The driver then stops his bus and walks towards them. He asks them to come down because they are still not wearing masks. The Covid-19 epidemic is in full swing in France. The four individuals then appear threatening towards Philippe Monguillot. According to the investigators’ report, relayed by franceinfo, the bus driver then delivered a “violent headbutt” to Wyssem M. A fight broke out between Philippe Monguillot and the two accused.
The two men then push the driver out of his vehicle, then kick him in the stomach and face, reports BFMTV. Philippe Monguillot, however, manages to get up and tries to get into the bus. Wyssem M. then punched him violently. It was then that the driver fell “heavily to the ground, hitting it with the back of the head”, indicates the investigators’ report. It was this last blow that put him in a coma, and which led to his death five days later, on July 10, 2020.
