Suspended sentence for 5 men who assaulted casino players

In recent weeks, the police and gendarmerie of the departments of Aude and Herault have joined forces in a somewhat complex investigation revolving around several casinos in the south of France. This investigation recently led to the conviction of five individuals by the Béziers Criminal Court.

Casino players assaulted and robbed of their winnings

Last summer, three senior citizens who had gone to have fun at the casino of Valras-Plage were victims of robberies with violence in front of their homes. They were beaten and their handbags were snatched. The facts took place respectively on August 19 in Béziers, then on August 24 in Cers, two communes located in the Hérault, in the neighbourhoods of 04 hours of the morning.

Subsequently, on August 25, 2022 at 03:00 am, identical events took place in the Aude, more precisely in Coursan and Gruissan. One person was sprayed by a tear gas canister and was stripped of all her personal belongings.

Consequently, the Béziers public prosecutor’s office decided to pool the investigation by contacting the Béziers police station and the Narbonne gendarmerie company. Very quickly, three couples attached to a family of travelers living in Narbonne were suspected. On September 5, the police conducted a major operation and arrested the six suspects in question, as well as their three personal vehicles.

Detained and banned from residing in France for three years

Placed in police custody, two of the women blamed two other men, who had not yet been questioned by the police and the gendarmerie. ” They are the ones who committed the thefts “, they assured the investigators.

Once arrested, one of the two men in question was formally recognized by one of the victims. Among the duo, only one confessed to having committed the three assaults; however, he justified his actions by explaining that he had been forced to do so by the rest of the group under investigation, because he owed them money. However, the men previously arrested all denied the facts.

The three women were released on September 7 due to a lack of evidence against them and have returned to their former lives. As for the men, five of them were sentenced by the Béziers Correctional Court on Friday, October 14 for ” robbery with violence in a group “. The prison sentences range from two to five years, with a probationary period for four of them. All of them will have to compensate the victims.

Finally, the court in Béziers ordered the continued detention of all the convicted persons as well as their prohibition to stay in the departments of Hérault and Aude for a period of three years after their release from prison.