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Truth, Reconciliation and National Unity Commission – Hearing number 187 Ex-police officer talks about ‘private part’ slashing incident |31 July 2021

Truth, Reconciliation and National Unity Commission – Hearing number 187     Ex-police officer talks about ‘private part’ slashing incident

Mr René

Ex-police officer Gaetan René was the only person to appear before the Truth, Reconciliation and National Unity Commission yesterday, as a complainant, giving his recollection ofan incident which happened on Friday March 13, 1998 at the inter-island quay.

The incident in question was followed closely by the public since it involved senior officers of the police force who were accused of cutting off the private part (penis) of Willis Francourt.

Beginning his testimony, Mr René said on that particular day, he and four other people, namely Gaetan Didon (ex-deputy commissioner of police for operation), Desire Boniface (ex-police officer), Lynden Jeannevol and Rollen Adrienne, were at the fibreglass boat building company Souris Glass at Providence where Mr Adrienne was working on Mr Didon’s boat’s global positioning system (GPS) equipment.

Following that, they all ended up at the inter-island quay where they were enjoying some beers, before being alerted by a strange noise coming from inside the compound which belonged to some yacht charter companies.

Mr René said they then noticed someone climbing up the fence, and when they approached him, the suspect (Macdonald Zialor) started to run, and he (Mr René)pursued him.

He explained that after the suspect jumped into the sea, he lost him and decided to head back to his friends.

Once back, he saw Mr Boniface holding someone (Willis Francourt) and noticed something under the person’s shirt, to which he alerted the former.

After containing the suspect, a kitchen knife was taken from him.

Mr René said some blood was noticed on the person’s trousers and when asked if he wanted to go to the hospital, he said no and told them that he was waiting for the early boat to go to Praslin.

Going over the court record regarding the incident, the chairperson of the Truth, Reconciliation and National Unity Commission (TRNUC) Gabrielle Louise McIntyre stated:“After the injury had been inflicted upon him, the plaintiff got out and went to the bench where some people were seated and told them that he was assaulted by police officersand showed them the injury to his penis. Two police officers on patrol duty arrived at the quay and the plaintiff showed them the injury and told them that it was caused by three police officers. He was taken to the Central Police Station where he gave the names of the assailants and then he was taken to the Seychelles Hospital where he was treated.”

Under oath, Mr René categorically rejected the statement, claiming that it was all made-up stories to frame them.

He explained that on the following day while cooking at home, Mr Didon called him, asking about the knife they took from Mr Francourt, to which he replied it was still in the back of the jeep.

Mr Didon asked him to take the knife to the police station since there was something going on.

He took it down and handed it over to Gerald Charlette.

It was only on March 17 that the officer commanding (OC) of the criminal investigation unit (CID) Antoine Belmont asked Mr René for a statement on the weekend’s events.

He was then handed a letter by David Mondon, just like his two other colleagues, informing them that they had been suspended and were ordered to hand over all police properties in their possession, including car keys and weapons.

Messrs Didon and Boniface had France Bonté as their lawyers, while Mr René had Pesi Pardiwalla as his lawyer.

The trio were charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm and appeared in court in June and were released on bail.

Mr René said that during the trial, there was the largest crowd ever to be seen during any previous court case in the country’s history.

This, he said, was pre-meditated in an attempt to humiliate them and denigrate their character.

They were sentenced to seven (7) years imprisonment.

Mr René said while he was in prison, warden Raymond Bonté ordered that he spent 19 days in the B block which was the high security section of the prison.

Upon his release in 2002, Mr René said he went to see ex-President France Albert René who revealed to him that everything was a set up by late Commissioner André Quilindo who wanted to get rid of Mr Didon.

Mr René said the three of them were also ordered to pay Mr Francourt a total of R200,000 as compensation.

 

Roland Duval

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