Aramburu trial: Romain Bouvier says he fired in "total panic" without intending to injure
Facing attempted murder charges, Romain Bouvier claimed on Tuesday before the Paris assizes court that he never intended to harm the former Argentine rugby player.
Bouvier at the bar: "I never wanted to hurt him"
According to France Info, Romain Bouvier — a weapons collector facing attempted murder charges — gave his testimony on Tuesday 22 September before the Paris assizes court. He was the first to open fire on Federico Martin Aramburu, on Boulevard Saint-Germain, during the night of 19 March 2022. Four revolver shots in four seconds, two impacts on the former Argentine international: to the right thigh and the thorax. But it was Loïk Le Priol, his co-accused, who delivered the fatal blow, with six additional shots.
Bouvier, 35 years old, faces life imprisonment, as does Le Priol, who is being tried for murder. A third defendant, Lyson Rochemir, is being tried for complicity in attempted murder.
An evening that spirals after a brawl at the Mabillon
It had all started on the terrace of the Paris bar Le Mabillon. That evening, Bouvier was drinking rum cocktails with Le Priol and Rochemir. Federico Martin Aramburu and his evening companion Shaun Hegarty sat down nearby. According to Bouvier, the atmosphere was calm: "Everything was going well, all was for the best in the best of all worlds."
The situation escalated. Le Priol allegedly gave light taps on Hegarty's cheek — a gesture that Bouvier says he did not see. When Aramburu grabs Le Priol's hood to pull him down, Bouvier says he was "taken aback". A brawl breaks out. "I start to be in complete bewilderment. Very quickly, I get up, I still have my cigarette in my hand. I move closer. (...) I take an enormous punch to the face", he told the court. Three servers and the Mabillon's security guard ended the altercation.
Fear for Le Priol, the driving force behind his actions according to him
Loïk Le Priol then disappears from Bouvier's view. The latter gets into a Jeep driven by Rochemir, convinced that his "war hero" is in danger. "I am gripped by fear that starts to build up crescendo. Fear for Loïk. Where is he? And what state is he in? (...) What if he's been beaten to death?" he declared before the magistrates. He mentally pictures the scene: "Loïk on the ground with our two attackers beating him up."
At the place where the Jeep stops, Le Priol is nonetheless absent. The court president asks him why he did not simply call out to his friend loudly. "I am paralysed", Bouvier replied from his box.
"I fire at the ground to make him back away"
It is at this moment that Bouvier gets out of the vehicle, revolver in hand, facing Federico Martin Aramburu. According to his version, the former rugby player "advances" towards him and says: "You're dead." "There was a total panic that drove me crazy, to the point that instinctively I pull out my weapon. I fire at the ground to make him back away. In my mind, it was to make him see the flash of fire, to make him hear the shots", he explained, claiming to have acted with "an intention to deter". "I never wanted to touch him. All I wanted was to hit the ground so he would take as much distance as possible from me."
Security camera footage, projected in court, partially contradicts this account: it shows Aramburu backing away clearly from the first shot, while Bouvier holds his arm outstretched. The defendant acknowledged the gap between intention and reality: "Between what I wanted to do and what I actually did, there is a world of difference." He mentioned the possibility of having fired with his wrist pointed downward. "Like an idiot, I got myself into this mess."
The attempted murder charge disputed
When faced with repeated questions from the court president about his intent to kill, Bouvier finally lost his temper. "I never wanted to kill Mr Aramburu! At some point, this relentlessness is too much!" He admits to deserving prison, but for "violence with a weapon", not for attempted murder as retained by the investigating judges. A former law student who dreamed of becoming a lawyer, he contests the most serious criminal charge against him.
"An immense sense of guilt" for four and a half years
Since the night of 19 March 2022, Bouvier says he has carried an "immense sense of guilt" for having wounded the former sportsman. "I would like to tell Mr Aramburu's family that I think of them every day, and that I do not even dare look at them for fear of offending them", he declared, his back turned to the civil parties.
He also mentioned a causal link that haunts him: if his four shots had not happened, would Le Priol's six shots — including the fatal blow — have followed? Bouvier is convinced of it: "I provoked the shots that made him come back. If I had not fired, Mr Aramburu would still be with his children."
The two far-right activists fled after the shots. Le Priol had been arrested in Spain several weeks after the facts. Both deny premeditation.
Source: France Info