2023-07-04 17:31:00
SNCF Voyageurs was found guilty of “negligence” by the Paris police court. It will also have to pay 1,000 euros to each of the two complainants.
By NJ with AFP SNCF Voyageurs has been found guilty of “negligence” in the case of the cat run over by a TGV at Montparnasse station. © RICCARDO MILANI / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via AFP Published on 07/04/2023 at 5:31 p.m.
In the case of the cat crushed by a TGV in custody of Montparnasse, in early January, SNCF Voyageurs was found guilty of “negligence” and was sentenced to a fine of 1,000 euros by the Paris police court, Tuesday July 4 . The president of the police court denounced “the lack of commitment of human resources necessary to recover the cat” crushed by a TGV. This constitutes “a fault”, he added.
SNCF Voyageurs, a subsidiary of the SNCF group responsible for passenger rail transport, is also ordered to pay 1,000 euros to each of the two plaintiffs, a mother and her daughter, owners of the animal, for non-pecuniary damage.
During the hearing on June 19, the prosecution had requested the release of the railway company, which was being prosecuted before the police court for “involuntary attack on the life or integrity of a domestic animal”.
The correctional referral refused by the court
“We hope that the SNCF will henceforth adopt clear procedures so that the decisions now taken by the railway agents in such an unfortunate situation can never again lead to the death of an animal”, reacted Reha Hutin, the president of the 30 Million Friends Foundation, in a statement.
While the court deemed admissible the civil action of the two plaintiffs, it rejected, on the other hand, that of the five associations for the defense of the animal cause, including the Fondation 30 millions d’amis, which had requested, without success, the dismissal of the correctional file for “serious abuse and acts of cruelty”.
“An instrumentalization”, according to the lawyer of the SNCF
On January 2, the cat Neko, with a valid ticket, had escaped the attention of his mistress who was about to leave Paris for Bordeaux with her 15-year-old daughter. The animal had taken refuge under the train, a few minutes before departure.
Despite requests from the cat’s owners to delay the departure, the train, with 800 passengers on board, had left crushing the feline which, according to the railway company, was “not visible” until the train departed.
The case had stirred public opinion. ” You have no shame ? ” had thus asked the SNCF the Brigitte Bardot Foundation. Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, questioned on the subject a few days after the events, said he was “particularly shocked”.
The day after the cat’s death, a petition had been launched to ask the SNCF “to introduce appropriate procedures to safeguard the integrity and life of an animal finding itself in the same position as Neko”.
During the hearing, the lawyer for the two complainants had denounced an “inadmissible act”. “We stop a train for abandoned luggage, but not for an animal,” he lamented.
The SNCF lawyer, Me Philippe Sarda, had denounced for his part “an instrumentalization” of this affair by associations for the defense of the animal cause.
None of the parties was present at the hearing for the reading of the decision.
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