Trois jeunes hommes condamnés dans une procédure liée à l’accident de voiture de Pierre Palmade

After four hours of hearing, two of them, aged 21 and 32, and with a clean criminal record so far, were sentenced, the first to a one-year suspended sentence and the second to one year in prison with detention. A third accused, 22 years old, suspected of being a simple delivery person, was acquitted of this charge.

At the time of the accident, which caused three serious injuries in an oncoming car, “we were in a hurry to go to Carrefour to withdraw money because (one of the dealers) was supposed to deliver 3MMC (a synthetic drug) and cocaine,” Pierre Palmade confided to the investigators, according to his statements read during the hearing.

A few hours after the collision, the gendarmes receive a report, issued by an angry acquaintance of Pierre Palmade, accusing him of providing him with flour instead of cocaine. The report indicates that numerous hard drugs are located in the actor’s second home in Cély-en-Bière, from where the 54-year-old artist took to the road.

The search led to the discovery of drugs and injection and inhalation equipment “throughout the residence” of Palmade. In the trash alone, “thirteen balls containing white powder, a bag of white powder, 32 used syringes, a tourniquet kit, Maxicups, 36 injectable vials, 35 Sterifilt…” the president inventories.

“Bad luck”

The gendarmes trace back and identify two of his main dealers at the time: “Max Chine,” a Chinese student who mainly supplied him with 3MMC, and “Winterfell” (a nickname borrowed from a snowy kingdom in the series “Game of Thrones”) who supplied him with top-quality cocaine.

At the bar, Karim B., alias “Winterfell,” is not very talkative. Slim and athletic, the lower part of his face hidden behind a black surgical mask, the 22-year-old defendant downplays his illicit activity. “To be honest, Mr. President,” as he repeats repeatedly, he only made a few sales to finance his sports massage practice.

“It was for me, it was a small trafficking (…) I must have had four or five clients, maybe six to be really generous,” says this former semi-professional footballer whose last delivery in Cély-en-Bière was a week before the accident.

The prosecutor is surprised that a “beginner” in trafficking is able to supply 94% pure cocaine, compared to the market average of 50%, and immediately ends up supplying wealthy heavy drug users like Pierre Palmade.

“It’s bad luck, I really would have liked not to have all this,” evades Karim B., who took a plane to Thailand the day after the highly publicized accident.

In the defendants’ box, Junyang Y., alias “Max Chine,” claims that he worked for a boss for whom he was just a grunt. However, numerous synthetic drugs, including rare products such as Kamagra (a sexual stimulant), and 13,000 euros in cash were discovered at his home during the search.

“Previously I had refused Pierre Palmade’s offer to have a drink together and my boss had said to me, +if you refuse to do this sort of thing to deliver the product, I will denounce you to the police+,” deflects the 31-year-old student.

Opposing the description of a “sizeable” case made by the prosecution, which had requested up to three years in prison, the defense of the accused criticized an “excessive” investigation in terms of resources and publicity.

“This case only matters because of the notoriety of the drug addict involved,” summarized Me Grégory Bensadoun.