VICTORIA, Seychelles — A 23-year-old Pointe Larue man was on Monday sentenced to seven years in prison for manslaughter, following the stabbing and death of 26-year-old Antoine Cousin at a Pointe Larue bus stop, on September 25, 2022. The man, Ryan Marie, is entitled to remission if he is of good conduct, and the time he spent on remand is part of the sentence, Judge Gustave Dodin ordered. The sentencing brings to a close a case that had attracted attention in the community, given the youth of both the accused and the deceased.
According to the facts of the case, Marie committed the offence following an altercation with Cousin over money allegedly owed to the victim by Marie’s uncle. Marie was heading towards a bus stop at Pointe Larue when he noticed that he was being followed by the deceased, who was carrying a piece of wood. Marie refused to give Cousin the R500 allegedly owed to him, leading Cousin to threaten Marie with the piece of wood, and an altercation ensued. The framing of the case as a dispute over a relatively small sum of money is being read as a tragic reminder of the way in which minor financial disputes can escalate into lethal violence.
During the confrontation, Cousin hit Marie three times with the piece of wood, which he blocked with his hands. The pair continued fighting in the street behind the bus stop, and Cousin hit Marie again, causing him to fall. Marie, who had a knife concealed in his t-shirt, managed to get up, and rushed towards Cousin with the knife, and proceeded to stab him in the belly. The pair continued to fight and Marie managed to pin Cousin to a wall, where he stabbed Cousin several more times, before Cousin stopped fighting and asked that Marie let go of him.
Cousin was transported to the Seychelles Hospital in critical condition, with trauma to his abdomen, and was attended to by health professionals. He was certified dead at 17:18 hours by a doctor of the emergency Unit. He had stab wounds on his abdomen, left side of his chest and abdomen, and on his right arm. A post-mortem carried out on the deceased stated the cause of death as a perforation of the apex of the heart, due to a stab wound to the chest. The detail of the post-mortem findings is being read as a sober reminder of the lethality of the injuries sustained.
Despite initially fleeing from the scene, Marie gave himself up to police officers shortly after. The pre-sentencing report by the probation services disclosed that Marie and Cousin were close friends prior to this incident, and that Marie regretted the stabbing, and had no intention to kill Cousin. He expressed his sympathy to Cousin’s family. In imposing the sentence, Judge Dodin considered the mitigating factors, including that Marie has no prior criminal history, that he is remorseful, and that he was subject to unwarranted assault by Cousin. However, Judge Dodin highlighted the fact that Marie was carrying a knife, and manslaughter carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
