Death of 15-year-old Lenny Marcel |25 April 2023
Hearing starts in manslaughter case
Espedie Barra, a man in his mid-forties from Mont Plaisir, Anse Royale, is facing manslaughter charges in relation to the death almost four years ago of Lenny Marcel from Anse Aux Pins.
Lenny, who was 15 years old when he died, was killed instantly in an accident that occurred at the entrance to Ile Soleil, facing the Anse Aux Pins market, around 9.15am on August 11, 2019, when a scooter he was riding collided with a chain that was stretched across the second bridge in the area leading to the island. Barra was at that time working there as a security officer and he is being charged with the incident. He was served with the manslaughter charge in June 2022.
The prosecution believes that Espedie was responsible for Lenny’s death for intentionally putting up the chain to prevent him from crossing. It is alleged that there was no chain prior to the victim’s many rides back and forth to the island before the accident occurred.
Barra is being represented by lawyer Joel Camille while the state is being represented by counsel Langsinglu Rongmer, assisted by counsel Alvin Marie.
The case which will be heard during the whole week is being presided by Judge Brassel Adeline.
The first among nine witnesses to appear for the prosecutor yesterday morning was Corporal Joachim Alissop from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
He took the photos at the scene of the accident and at the mortuary.
He noted that when he arrived at the scene, following instructions to go there, the victim’s body was already covered up where he took photos as is and later uncovered the body to take further photos, including the scene of the accident. Among the 46 photos for exhibits include those of Lenny’s body lying face down in a pool of blood, the injuries sustained and the scooter and debris, lying a few metres away from him towards Ile Soleil.
At the mortuary he had the authorisation of the pathologist in charge to take photos of the post mortem to carry out for further investigation by CID investigators.
He said he was further called on October 2020 to take some further photos for the investigation.
The second witness was sergeant Julinio Nourrice, who was a police constable attached for general duties at the Anse Aux Pins police station, at the time of the accident.
He said he was on a routine mobile patrol in the area, precisely in Au Cap, along with two other police officers, when he got a call from the Anse Aux Pins station to attend to the accident on the bridge at Ile Soleil.
Sergeant Nourrice said when he arrived, two other police officers from the police station were already at the scene.
He explained that, being the scene officer for that day, he took charge of giving first aid to the victim to which he did not respond.
He said that given it was close by, he sought for assistance of paramedics from the Airport Fire Service.
He added that while waiting for the assistance to arrive, he looked for clues which would identify the victim. He found his black phone that was lying next to him and was ringing. He said that the phone stopped ringing by the time it was picked up and given that he noticed the lock pattern that was clearly visible, he managed to unlock the phone and called the last number that came up which happened to be that of his mother who was called to the scene to identify the body.
He noted that although the scooter was crashed, its engine was still running when they arrived at the scene.
Sergeant Nourrice said that he did all the markings and labelling at the scene including the drawing of the sketch plan of the accident.
He added that later that night when he went on patrol in the area, the chain which allegedly had caused the accident, had vanished.
He said that even before or until late before he was posted to the La Digue police station, he had never seen any chain across the bridge during any of his patrols to the island.
He stated that while being posted at the La Digue police station, he was further called back to explain the scene of the accident to investigators.
The third person in the witness stand for the prosecutor was Airport Fire Service’s station officer, Jude Accouche.
He said he was on the morning shift when they received a call at 9.25am to assist with the accident.
He said that he and three other paramedics went to the scene where the victim’s body was checked and nothing could be done to save him.
He said that he discussed with the police for the assistance of a pathologist to confirm his death as it was not in his capacity to do so.
He noted that from his own conclusion the scooter was overspeeding when it collided with the chain.
Apart from Corporal Allisop and Sergeant Nourrice who were cross-examined, station officer Accouche was not cross-examined by the defence.
Speaking to Seychelles NATION, defence counsel Camille said that the defence has three witnesses for the time being and depending on how the trial goes, he will bring in more witnesses.
Patrick Joubert