French hunters made light of man’s death ‘as he was English’

A FRENCH hunting party played down the death of an Anglo-french 25-yearold “because he was of English origin” after one of their group accidentally shot him dead on mistaking him for a boar, according to the family’s lawyer.

Prosecutors yesterday called for two years in prison – six and 12 months suspended respectively – along with a life hunting ban and a five-year firearm suspension against two men over the death of Morgan Keane at their manslaughter trial in Cahors, south-west France.

They said the hunt had been so poorly planned and executed that “this tragic involuntary homicide was a foregone conclusion”.

Julien Féral, 35, has already admitted to having killed Mr Keane – born to a British father in France – as he cut wood outside his rural home in the isolated hamlet of Garrigue, north of Toulouse on Dec 2 2020. He confessed to opening fire despite having failed to identify the target. Hunt leader Laurent Lapergue, 51, is accused of flouting basic hunting safety rules during a “disorganised and intrinsically dangerous hunt”. He has denied the charge.

They face a possible maximum sentence of three years in prison and a €75,000 (£65,000) fine.

Ahead of the trial, Benoît Coussy, lawyer for Mr Keane’s younger brother Rowan, claimed: “The fact that the Keane brothers’ dad was English appears to have made this homicide less serious in their eyes.”

In court, he added: “Morgan’s life ended in the forest where he went to cut wood. But the story didn’t start there but several years before when Morgan’s father politely asked hunters to go elsewhere to shoot.

“He was a foreigner and… not a hunter and the hunting world is quite ferocious. If you are not a hunter, it means you are against hunting.”

The lawyer said that the bullet passed through Mr Keane’s lungs and heart, adding the charge should have been one of murder.

Alexandre Rossi, prosecuting, told the court that the death was far worse than a case of “simple negligence” and that the hunt director was clearly also to blame for the fatal outcome, as he had “failed in the organisation” of the hunt.

An emotional Mr Féral asked for forgiveness. “A day doesn’t go by without me thinking about it,” he told the court, reiterating that he had not “well identified the target”.

Investigators concluded that the defendant did not know the terrain and had been positioned in a poorly chosen spot with no clear instructions. A verdict is due in January.

‘The fact that the Keane brothers’ dad was English appears to have made this less serious in their eyes’