Key Suspect Testifies in Brutal Gang-Related Murder Trial

The trial of the seven accused in the murder of Kévin Guerrier, against the backdrop of a settling of scores between the Gacem gang, to which the accused belong, and the Zouhairi clan, of which the victim and his friend Corentin, who survived, are members, opened last Tuesday before the Assize Court of Seine-Saint-Denis. On this first day of the trial, which will last three weeks, Karim L., a 32-year-old Moroccan, on whom traces of the victim’s DNA were found, was heard.

Accused of having inflicted several knife blows to Kévin, Karim was arrested while fleeing the Cordon housing project. During his hearing, he denies the facts, reports Le Parisien. "I don’t know how I ended up in this story," he said. Karim lived with his parents, brothers and sisters in their house in the 8-Mai-1945 housing project in Saint-Ouen. The young man confided to him during their exchanges that his parents had instilled in him "values of justice and uprightness."

But once on the street where drug trafficking was predominant, he was contaminated by bad company. "When you no longer have pocket money, you fall into it," he explains from the stand. At 19, Karim was sentenced to four years in prison, two of which were suspended, and incarcerated in Fresnes (Val-de-Marne). "I was a first-time offender, they put me with big crooks. I found myself in the yard with the gang of barbarians, Corsicans, Basques. You make new acquaintances and there you go."

After meeting his wife, the Moroccan completely changed his life. He does outreach work with the association Le Joli Mai, which opened on the Place du 8-Mai. His wife describes him as an attentive husband and a doting father: "At home, he’s a teddy bear and a clown." But outside, the accused displays a different character. "Outside, I’m arrogant. It’s a character I do to protect myself," he says, confirming this "dual personality."