Trial of the November 13 attacks: “The surgeon’s first word when I wake up: you are a broken face” – LCI

Pierre -Sylvain and Gaëlle did not know each other on November 13, 2015. These two people today have terrible points in common: having been injured in the attacks that evening and having seen the loved one suffer, and for Gaëlle, die .

Like nearly 1,500 people on November 13, they were attending the Eagles of Death Metal concert when three terrorists burst into the performance hall, armed with Kalashnikovs, before killing 130 and injuring several hundred.

It was after the last minute withdrawal from a friend of his wife that Pierre-Sylvain found himself on this autumn evening, six years ago, at the Bataclan. There, he finds friends, bar acquaintances. “It was the national day of kindness”, remembers this 54-year-old man today, with brown hair, a salt and pepper beard. The couple drink a beer, listen to the music when the first shots occur. “We were 15 meters from the shooters. I turned to see where the shots were coming from. I tackled Hélène to the ground and dragged her to the center of the room. We had a deluge of bullets over our heads. I saw people falling everywhere. ”

The three shooters find themselves within 10 meters of the couple. “Hélène said to me: ‘we are gonna die’. I say : ‘no’ but in reality, I do not see how we are going to get out of it “. According to Pierre-Sylvain, then there are only two options: “Either we tried to leave and got shot immediately, or we waited to get shot.”. The shots continue, stop the time to reload, then start again. “I understood that he was methodically executing people. Then he shot again. He shot Helene, I saw a spray of blood. Then me. I thought my head was opening. in two. Then I saw Helene. She no longer had a nose, her right eye had been exploded. I said to her: ‘it’s nothing what you got’, then ‘don’t move, they think we’re dead’.“

The shots stop. Pierre-Sylvain and his wife open their eyes. “I was in a concert hall and now it was a mass grave. Afterwards, we had to cross, there was a carpet of bodies, we had to cross. Hélène fell, I caught up with her and then carried her. “

The couple manages to leave the room, after 12 minutes in hell. Hélène and Pierre-Sylvain are transferred to Percy. She is operated on during the night and goes to intensive care after her life-threatening prognosis. Then his condition stabilizes. “Hélène has had 14 reconstruction operations. She has found a face that she can show, without eliciting reactions. She will have to be operated again, but we are starting to see a little light at the end of the tunnel. There you are,” concludes Pierre-Sylvain, whose scar is almost invisible to him.

Gaëlle had gone to the concert with her companion, Mathieu Hoche. When they got together, she already had a child and so did he. “In the Bataclan, the atmosphere was great. We ordered a beer at the bar”, remembers at the bar this woman dressed in a white top, black pants, brown hair. Suddenly, a crowd movement, gunshots. Mathieu takes her in his arms. “I understood that we were being attacked by terrorists”, she assures.

Gaëlle takes a bullet in the head. “I wanted to remove the lump on my face, my cheek was falling down my neck. On my stomach, there were pieces of body that weren’t mine. The bone in my arm was perpendicular to my face. arms, the people around me were moaning. I thought that Mathieu, who did not answer me, was not playing dead like the others “, she explains in tears to the court, facing the photo of Mathieu all smiles which was projected at her request on the giant screen in the room. During this time, Gaëlle continues to empty herself of her blood. “I felt myself leaving very slowly. The smell of gunpowder and blood was unbearable. I felt like I was in a slimy swamp. ”

Then the police arrived and evacuated the able-bodied people. “I held out my hand to several people who left me, I don’t blame them. I managed to get up. A policeman helped me.” Gaëlle is taken care of by the emergency services. Seeing her, a caregiver will cry out “oh my God”. Gaëlle indicates that she hesitated to project the photo of her disfigured face into the room, but she said to herself that it would have made the terrorists too happy.

“Since that day, I feel like a patchwork. When I wash my face, I tell myself that I am washing my leg”, she explains. Then she adds: “I had 40 operations, in particular to repair my shattered face. The surgeon’s first word when I woke up: you are a broken face”. Today, in front of the court, Gaëlle has yet found a harmonious face. She ends with her words: “I wish my son was proud of his broken mom.”