Barbecue turns to tragedy: eight months jail for threats with knife and axe in Foix
A 47-year-old man has been sentenced to eight months in prison after threatening his neighbour with a knife and an axe during a barbecue in Saint-Jean-d'Aigues-Vives.
Barbecue forbidden, knife drawn: eight months in jail for neighbour out of control
A simple barbecue escalated into an armed altercation on 28 September at Saint-Jean-d'Aigues-Vives, in Ariège. According to ladepeche.fr, a 47-year-old man, Quentin*, seized a knife to threaten his neighbour who had asked him to stop grilling, before returning from his home armed with an axe.
Around 7 p.m. that evening, the neighbour complained that smoke from the barbecue was pouring into his house. Quentin's response came swiftly: a knife pointed in the man's direction, accompanied by the threat "I'm going to slash you!", before simulating a blow. Disarmed by his neighbour, he went back inside — only to return a few moments later, axe in hand, heading towards him again.
It was Quentin himself who then called the gendarmes. The officers, who had easily subdued him — he had a blood-alcohol level of nearly 0.90 mg per litre of expired air — discovered the knife in a box on his bedside table and the axe on his bed.
Serious criminal record, discernment questioned
Tried on 17 October in immediate appearance at Foix tribunal for use and threats with a weapon, Quentin defended himself from his dock, behind a glass screen. His neighbour had neither filed a complaint nor joined the proceedings as a civil party.
"When the weather is nice, why does grilling disturb anyone? I pay my share of the garden," he declared to the tribunal president, Pauline Chaulet. He maintained that the axe was not intended to intimidate, but to cut small pieces of wood to fuel the fire. "I didn't strike him even once. The axe was for cutting rafters and making a barbecue. I had prepared kindling," he insisted.
President Chaulet made no attempt to hide her scepticism: "You threaten your neighbour with a knife, you go back inside and then come back out with an axe heading towards him…"
Alcohol occupied a central place in the proceedings. Quentin acknowledged daily consumption whilst insisting he had retained his lucidity: "As far as I'm concerned, I wasn't drunk. I wasn't rolling on the table. I was completely lucid." His psychiatric profile — antisocial traits and bipolar disorder — led his lawyer, Me Hugues Casellas-Ferry, to raise the question of impaired discernment. "The expert says there is no loss of discernment, but she was not asked about its impairment. I think she is implying it, it is implicit," he argued.
Seven convictions on record, sentence aggravated by past offences
Quentin's criminal file weighed heavily in the balance. In 2020, he had already been convicted for walking around town with a knife in hand. His record contained a total of seven convictions since 2003. The assistant prosecutor, Élodie Girardelli, had requested 14 months in prison, of which 4 would be suspended.
A single man without close family, placed under guardianship, Quentin had described the barbecue as one of his few pleasures: "Nobody ever came to see me. And then it was to forbid me from making my barbecue."
The tribunal ultimately imposed a sentence of eight months in prison, of which four are subject to probation for two years. Quentin must undergo psychiatric care and treatment for his alcohol addiction. He is also prohibited from contacting his neighbour and from carrying a weapon.
*The name has been changed.
Source: 7sur7 Faits Divers