Reckless Driver’s 8-Year Sentence Upheld in Fatal Hit-and-Run of 9-Year-Old Boy in Montpellier

On Thursday, the Montpellier Court of Appeal confirmed the eight-year prison sentence with a ten-year ban on driving handed down by the criminal court on December 8 last year against Karem El Rekab, reports Midi Libre. This 34-year-old reckless driver from Montpellier had fatally hit the little Adam, barely 9 years old, on August 21, 2021.

While he was driving with a blood alcohol level of 0.9 g, around 9:30 pm, his Peugeot 607 car had fatally hit the child who was on the sidewalk of Avenue de Monsieur-Teste in La Martelle with his mother and 8-year-old sister. Six days later, little Adam died in the hospital surrounded by his family.

The investigation reveals that on the day of the tragedy, Karem "was driving with 1.33 g of alcohol in his blood, had sniffed 1 g of cocaine and smoked four to five joints, before getting behind the wheel." After spending a year in pre-trial detention, he had been released on August 22, 2022. However, three days later, he had been arrested at Marignane airport as he was trying to flee to Morocco and had been imprisoned again.