FRANCE: A French couple who allowed a friend to drive home drunk after a dinner party went on trial yesterday charged with being partially responsible for the car crash in which he killed himself and four others.
The two are being prosecuted for failing to prevent a crime. If they are found guilty, the case will set a legal precedent in France, where legislation has been applied only in cases where those charged knew that a crime was about to be committed.
The newly-married couple, Ms Angelique and Mr Jean-Sebastian Fraisse, spent an evening with friends on February 23rd, 2000, in their flat in a small town in eastern France. All of them had a lot to drink but, at the end of the evening, Mr Frederic Colin (29) insisted on driving himself home. Aware of how drunk he was, the Fraisses claim they attempted to stop him, hiding his car keys and trying to block his way out of their flat, until he became angry and they gave up.
He left their home at 3.45 a.m. and half an hour later was driving on the wrong side of a main road when he crashed into another car carrying a young family of five.
The case has been brought by the maternal grandmother of the only person to survive the crash, a girl now aged nine.
She claims the couple should have done more to stop Mr Colin from driving, and should at least have called the police when they saw him get into his car.
An earlier attempt to prosecute the couple failed, with a judge ruling that it was unreasonable to expect anyone to denounce a friend to the police.
They face a five-year prison sentence and a €75,000 fine if the prosecution is successful. A decision is due on October 18th.