Bartender Guilty Of Manslaughter For Serving 56 Shots To Customer

A French bar owner has been found guilty of killing his customer after serving him 56 shots of spirits in one sitting.

Landlord and bartender Giles Crepin from Clermont-Ferrand escaped jail with a four-month suspended sentence. The alcoholic shots were consumed in October of 2014 at the Le Starter bar, by Renaud Prudhomme, 57. He was trying to beat the record of shots consumed in a single sitting, which was 55 at that time. The bar owner told Mr Prudhomme that he had only ’12 to go’ to beat the record. At the end of the session Renaud Prudhomme beat the record by one after downing 56 shots of spirits. He died the following day from a heart attack.

Mr Giles Crepin denied responsibility for customer’s health issues when purchasing drinks from his bar. He did admit it was a mistake to encourage the customer to consume more shots.

The Express reports:

The 47-year-old told Mr Prudhomme that he only had “12 to go” as neared the end of his drinking session in October 2014.

After successfully downing his shots, he was carried home by his daughter and friends.

However, Mr Prudhomme had a heart attack and died the next day following the tragic incident in Clermont-Ferrand, France.

Mr Crepin’s lawyer Renaud Portejoie told the court that a “leader board” in the Starter bar displaying the existing record for shots was “a mistake”.

But he added: “No one forced the client to take on the challenge.

“When you are the owner of a bar and an order has been placed, you cannot always verify who is drinking what.

“The customers are responsible for themselves, as are their families and friends.”

Barman Mr Crepin was convicted of manslaughter and handed a four-month suspended sentence and banned from tending bar for a year by the court in Clermont-Ferrand yesterday.

Mr Portejoie said his client intended to appeal the sentence, adding: “It’s a decision guided by emotion and the unconscious desire to set an example.

“The victim already had existing respiratory and alcohol abuse problems.

“Bar keepers can’t ask every customer who buys alcohol to present their medical certificates.”

Mr Prudhomme’s daughter’s lawyer said she was “relieved” by the ruling.

The manslaughter hearing comes as a new law set to come into force in France will make it illegal to encourage minors to “drink until they become drunk”.

Earlier this year, a French health watchdog spokesman blamed Britain for their recent steep rise in binge-drinking.

Francis Bourdillon, head of the National Institute of Prevention and Health Education, said: “This is an Anglo-Saxon phenomenon that’s starting to creep into the generation of the 15-24-year-olds.”