The case was heard at the Saint-Malo Criminal Court this Friday, according to our colleagues at the website Actu.fr.
The incident took place on 11 May. It was 9 am when a 90-year-old man withdrew 800 euros from a post office.
He took the back streets on his way home, unaware that a young man, who had been behind him at the post office collecting a letter, was following him.
A gunshot to the head
The young man pulls out an air pistol and approaches the old man to strike him on the head. The nonagenarian collapses from the blow.
The stranger then snatches his bag and runs off. But the money he was after isn’t in it. So the young man turns back and returns to the pensioner, who is still lying on the ground, according to the same source.
"I was afraid he’d come back to kill me. So I screamed for help with all my might!", says the victim. As a result, the attacker fled empty-handed.
Quickly spotted by the CCTV cameras
The old man got to his feet and then went back home. It was the minibus driver who noticed the wound on his head, which was bleeding profusely…
He heads to the police station to file a complaint. The investigation is carried out swiftly, as the young man has been identified by the post office’s CCTV cameras.
A 19-year-old volunteer firefighter
The attacker was arrested without difficulty at his parents’ home, but his background is surprising: at 19, he has several years’ service as a volunteer firefighter behind him.
He has no previous convictions and can count on a close-knit, well-integrated family. However, he had been experiencing difficulties for several months. He was struggling to find his feet, was causing problems with his employers and had been suspended by the fire service due to his absences. He was also using drugs and had accumulated debts of 600 euros.
The attacker was eventually sentenced to 18 months in prison, 12 of which were suspended. Inevitably, he is likely to be struck off the fire service.
