An Algerian migrant with a deportation order has been accused of burglarising homes in the Gironde region of France after they were evacuated as a result of the wildfires ravaging the area.
Hundreds of thousands of residents had their lives turned upside down due to the devastating forest fires in South West France, which are believed to be some of the most significant since the Second World War, seeing over 104,000 acres set on fire over the summer.
However, some in the Cestas commune in Gironde were not just victimised by the fires, but also allegedly by illegal migrants who burglarised homes that had been evacuated, the local Sud Ouest paper reported.
This includes a 28-year-old Algerian, who is said to have robbed at least five evacuated homes, despite having an OQTF “Obligation de Quitter le Territoire Français” deportation order after having been convicted of four previous crimes in France.
Security camera footage put the migrant on the scene of the crimes, and DNA evidence confirmed his presence in at least some of the five homes, which was further corroborated by geolocation data from his phone.
Despite the apparent overwhelming evidence against him, the Algerian national claimed that he was merely a lookout for his yet-to-be-detained accomplice.
One of the alleged victims, a great-grandmother from Cestas, told the Bordeaux criminal court last week: “We returned on July 29th and found our house ransacked, with everything on the floor.”
“It’s a bit like we were raped. They each poured a beer from the fridge and left them in the bedrooms. And then they took jewellery. Some of it was [lost] during a previous burglary in Paris. This time, I lost everything.”
In an exasperated attempt to rationalise the incident, she added: “They are cowards. They are poor wretches. What would they have said if we had done this to their mother? They took advantage of our misfortune. Perhaps if I had been in their place, I would have done the same. When you are in a desperate situation and without money, you have to eat.”
The trial for the Algerian national will continue in October. In the meantime, he will remain behind bars, as he still has two other prison sentences to serve for prior crimes.
The case has once again highlighted the contentious system surrounding deportation orders in France, which manages to remove less than one in ten migrant criminals per year.
A survey last year found that 86 per cent of French voters believe that the government should detain migrants with OQTF orders until they are deported from the country, rather than the current system, which often allows prospective deportees to remain on the streets until the date of their removal.