Pacific / New Caledonia

New Caledonia shooting to be re-enacted for court

15:27 pm on 17 May 2018

It has been announced in New Calednia that next Wednesday there will be a re-enactment of the 2016 fatal shooting of a prison escapee William Decoire near Noumea.

There is renewed concern that the justice system treats Kanaks unfairly after the death of William Decoire Photo: AFP

The public prosecutor said on the behest of the victim's mother, the events would be reconstructed along the road in St Louis.

In January last year, a probe concluded that police acted in legitimate self-defence because Decoire tried to run over an officer.

However, his family disputed the police account and lodged a complaint for homicide.

French police officers in New Caledonia. Photo: AFP

The shooting incident in October 2016 unleashed weeks of violence and disrupted travel along the main road to the territory's south.

The violence subsided after a number of arrests and the killing of another prison escapee in a confrontation within St Louis.

In February, seven men were jailed for up to eight years for firing at police officers, injuring about a dozen of them.