A young man who had stabbed his former football coach in front of the Gard assizes in Nîmes

A 24-year-old young man is tried by the Gard Assize Court in Nîmes for the assassination of his former football coach in Vauvert in May 2019. He denies premeditation.

When he was little, the others made fun of him because he wore glasses and he was the first in the class. The brilliant student who had passed his baccalaureate with honors killed his former football coach in Vauvert with several stab wounds. On May 24, 2019 around 10:30 p.m., Salim Boudral, 21, went to the gendarmerie just after stabbing Redouane Abbaoui. The victim, aged 36, was the father of three children.

The accused who appears this Friday, April 8 for murder before the Assize Court of Gard in Nîmes denies having premeditated his gesture. He was however armed with two knives and a cutter when he went to the meeting with the victim « to explain » following an altercation that occurred in the afternoon preceding the tragedy. In police custody, the young man had explained that a long-standing dispute opposed him to the victim.

He claimed to have played in the Vauvert football club then left for Codognan for a season before returning to his original club where he felt humiliated by his coach, described by some witnesses as “a strong coach”. A humiliation which had pushed the young man to stop football during the season, which his coach would have experienced as a betrayal. At that time, the victim allegedly forbade him from coming to the stadium, humiliating and belittling him in public every time he passed him in the street so that he “would have been afraid to go out to Vauvert”.

In an attempt to limit his liability, the accused constantly tarnished and denigrated the personality of the victim, who had no aggressive behavior at any time.

Khadija Aoudia

Lawyer for civil parties

On the contrary, everyone agrees that he was a deeply human man and very attached to the values ​​of respect in accordance with the spirit of football. » says Khadija Aoudia, lawyer for the civil parties

When they met on the evening of the drama rue des Bosquets in Vauvert, Salim Boudral stabbed Redouane Abbaoui. The pathologist then noted 16 wounds in the legs, back and torso. A mortal wound resulting from a stab wound to the heart. Did the accused who was armed only want to impress the victim or did he come to kill him?

I did not premeditate anything, I immediately regretted (…) At the time of the facts, I felt a mixture of hatred and fear and anger.

Premeditation will be at the center of the debates of a trial whose verdict is expected on April 12.