A bartender is in prison after serving a man 56 shots, after which he went into cardiac arrest and died.
The Criminal Court in France ruled that Giles Crepin was guilty of manslaughter for serving the enormous number of drinks and reportedly inciting him to break the bar’s consumption record.
Crepin received a four-month jail sentence, and is banned from working in bars for just a year.
Renaud Prudhomme was engaged in a protracted drinking session with friends, including his daughter. According to the daughter, Crepin apparently told Prudhomme “only 12 to go” as he approached the record, which Crepin had written on the bar’s noticeboard.
Crepin’s lawyer instead posed that the man’s daughter had pushed him to break the record, and that he had existing issues with alcohol abuse and medical problems.
“We can’t ask every customer who buys alcohol to present their medical certificates,” said Reanaud Portejoie, lawyer for the defence.
“The customers are responsible for themselves as are their families and friends.”
The trial takes place in the context of France’s attempts to clamp down on binge drinking. Prudhomme’s drinking session included downing 30 shooters in the space of a minute.
Portejoie says they will be appealing the ruling, which he believes was politically motivated.
“It’s a decision guided by emotion and the unconscious desire to set an example.”
