Court:

A few weeks before being invaded by the technical teams of the Transat Paprec, the main hall of Gustavia's harbor master's office was transformed into a courtroom on Thursday April 10. This was to host a court hearing. Although 25 cases were on the agenda, many were postponed to a later hearing. For technical or procedural reasons. Students from the Mireille Choisy secondary school are present in the room to watch the proceedings, along with their teachers, it goes without saying. The president of the court begins by explaining the rules and procedures of a hearing to her young audience. This is a gentler approach than the one she will have to adopt when examining certain cases. Like that of a man approaching 70.

"This situation has to stop
Called to the stand, the defendant is charged with violence against his wife and daughter. A patriarch who only receives a very low monthly pension, and who lives thanks to the hard work of his wife, who is still active. But the family situation, the defendant's somewhat archaic "values" and the protracted work on a house have gradually tipped the couple's daily routine into violence. "It's your wife who takes care of you, and you hit her," scolded the president, who followed the public prosecutor's recommendations and imposed a six-month suspended prison sentence on the almost-seventy-year-old. This situation has to stop," the magistrate said. You've hit your wife and your daughter. You're frustrated, but the way to relieve yourself is not to let off steam by being violent in the privacy of your own family. You're a husband and father, and that doesn't give you the right to hit and insult. Without your wife, you'd have nothing today. Madam doesn't come home in the evening after a day's work to be insulted and hit. "Head bowed, the man sat back in the room for several long minutes before leaving. His wife and daughter having already left.

"I'm scared".
The president then calls a 27-year-old man to the stand. He is being prosecuted for trespassing, threats and damaging other people's property. But the accused did not answer the call. He was absent from the hearing. He has no fewer than fourteen convictions on his criminal record, including violence, drugs, traffic offences and theft, and has already spent several periods in prison. His victim, a young woman, was present. She explains that she met the accused during a nightclub outing, but that she quickly put an end to their relationship. A break-up that was clearly not appreciated by the offender. Last December, after repeatedly appearing under the windows of his furtive "ex"'s home, the man broke into the young woman's bedroom. "He told me I was lucky to be a woman, otherwise he'd have broken my mouth", she recounts, describing a man regularly soaked in alcohol. Even though the defendant is clearly no longer in Saint-Barth, the victim confides: "He knows where I live, where I work, I'm scared. "The court sentenced the man to eight months' imprisonment.

Cameras and a private detective
A couple walks up to the desk that serves as a bar. Married for twenty years, the woman and the man, who is the defendant, have been going through a conflictual divorce procedure for the past two years. In 2022, the man, now aged 60, was convicted of violence against his wife. She continues to live in accommodation "generously" provided by her "ex" as a right of support, on his property and close to his home. But the victim complains that her soon-to-be ex-husband has installed cameras to monitor her every move. He also hired a private detective to gather further information.
In court, the man explains that the cameras in question don't work. "But these cameras bother Madame because she can't do what she wants," he asserts. While the lawyers on both sides defend their client's interests, the public prosecutor considers the victim's statements credible and calls for a fine of 500 euros. Although the presiding judge considered the close relationship between the two "exes" to be "not very healthy", she nonetheless acquitted the accused. Before lecturing him. Stop watching her and making comments about her life," the magistrate said. You're the one who offered her this apartment, but you can afford to pay for one elsewhere. You have to stop. "
A few small cases are then evacuated in the absence of the defendant, the victim and, consequently, the lawyer.