Couple cleared of failing to stop drink-drive ‘killer’

A FRENCH couple taken to court for failing to stop a drunken friend driving his car - killing himself and four others - were freed by a judge yesterday.

The verdict followed a plea from the trial’s public prosecutor, as well as the defence, not to punish Jean- Sebastian and Angelique Fraisse for the actions of another person.

If the couple had been found guilty, the landmark case would have triggered new responsibilities on French individuals, in addition to French law, which makes bar owners potentially liable if their customers drive away drunk.

But the case, which split French opinion, revealed a lack of judicial enthusiasm to add new burdens of responsibility on citizens.

The prosecution, in Nancy, had been triggered by relatives of the victims of the crash caused by 29-year-old Frederic Colin, when he left a party at the Fraisse home and hit another car. Four of five occupants in the car - a couple and two of their three children - were also killed.

The third child survived and the case was brought by his grandmother.

The twist came at the end of the case - should party hosts be responsible for the actions of those to whom they supply alcohol?

Prosecutor Michel Senthille told the court the case raised questions about the evolution of society and collective responsibility.

It also caught attention because the accused couple are victims of drunk-drivers - 29-year-old Angelique is confined to a wheelchair after being run down by a car.

Originally the prosecution said the couple’s own experiences should have alerted them to the dangers of letting someone they knew to be drunk drive at 4am. They should have at least called the police, said the victims’ relatives.

What the couple did do, the trial was told, was argue with Mr Colin when he tried to go home. They offered him a bed for the night. Mrs Fraisse even locked the doors to prevent him leaving. She gave up when he became aggressive and insisted on leaving.

Soon afterwards he was dead - driving at speed the wrong way along a motorway until he crashed head- on into another car containing a young couple and their three sons, aged five, four and 20 months. Only the five-year-old survived.

The accused couple’s lawyer, Bruno Zillig, had argued throughout that “a person can only be (legally) responsible for his own behaviour”.

However, the grandmother’s lawyer described the couple as “the first link in the security chain which could have saved them”.

Conviction would have meant a fine or a five-year jail sentence - and a new legal slant on responsibility for drink-driving.