Ucidere din culpă comisă prin agresiunea unui câine
Over the past three days, I have been following media reports about a tragic incident that occurred in 2019 about 80 km from Paris, in the Retz Forest, one of the largest in France.
𝐅𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐞, 𝐩𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐭
Elisa Pilarski, 29, went for a walk in the woods with Curtis, the dog belonging to her partner, Christophe Ellul. At one point, she called Christophe; the call lasted about two minutes. Christophe rushed to her, but when he arrived at the spot where she was, Elisa was already dead, with numerous dog bites on her neck and arms, and one thigh and her scalp had been torn from her body. Curtis was lying next to her.
Elisa was six months pregnant.
𝐀𝐩𝐚̆𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐚
Christophe said that Elisa told him on the phone, “The dogs bit my hand and arms; I can’t hold Curtis,” and that he could hear the dogs barking.
On the same day, 21 hunting dogs were in the forest for a deer hunt. Christophe says that, upon entering the forest, he encountered 5 or 6 hunting dogs, and several others were around Elisa when he reached her. He was convinced that only these dogs could have attacked Elisa, given that she was an animal lover and got along very well with Curtis, a fact confirmed by her family.
𝐀𝐜𝐮𝐳𝐚𝐭̦𝐢𝐚
The prosecution is charging Christophe with manslaughter resulting from a dog attack, under aggravated circumstances (Art. 221-6-2 of the French Criminal Code – link 1 for the text of the law).
The following charges have been brought against him:
• brought Curtis from the Netherlands to France using a fake passport that stated he was the result of a cross between a terrier and a whippet, rather than an American Pit Bull Terrier, as he actually was. The importation of pit bulls is prohibited in France, and Curtis was not declared to the authorities. There is no evidence that he was taken to a veterinarian;
• trained Curtis to bite using the suspended bait technique, which is also prohibited in France, and allegedly did so in order to participate in illegal competitions;
• He handed the 20-kg dog over to his 58-kg partner, who was six months pregnant and unable to control the animal.
DNA analysis revealed traces of Elise’s blood on Curtis, but not on the hunting dogs. Measurements showed that the bite marks were less than 3.6 cm wide. The distance between Curtis’s canines is 3.6 cm. The distance between the hunting dogs’ canines is over 4.4 cm. The expert concluded that it was impossible for the wounds to have been caused by the hunting dogs.
The prosecutor points out that a text message from Christophe was found on Eliza’s phone, sent immediately after her call, in which he told her, “I’m going to put him down.” This message does not exist on Christophe’s phone.
Taken to the police station after Eliza’s death, Curtis bit his owner, attacked the vet’s assistant, and, in front of the canine behavior specialist who had come to examine him, hung suspended for nearly a minute two meters above the ground, held up solely by the force of his jaws clamped around a sleeve, before trying again to reach him.
The penalty for the crime Christophe is charged with is imprisonment for up to 5 years, up to 7 years in the event of aggravating circumstances, or up to 10 years if two or more aggravating circumstances apply (link 1).
𝐂𝐚̂𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐚 𝐚𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞 𝐝𝐞 𝐥𝐚 𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐫𝐞
The investigation lasted more than four years and went to trial in August 2024.
The case has been under trial for three days at the Criminal Court in Soissons.
The presiding judge addressed the defendant with the following words: “Your situation is unique”; “You are a defendant and are being tried by this court, but you are also one of the victims of the death of Ms. Pilarski and the child she was expecting […] How are you feeling?”
Among other things, he also told him: “A dog doesn’t bite… until it does. And it is also the person’s responsibility to take precautions to protect themselves and others from the animal’s unpredictable behavior.”
On the second day of the hearings, the defendant stated the following: “When you listen to the president, it can only be Curtis (the perpetrator—ed.). Today, I believe we have the evidence.”
The civil parties in the case are Elise’s mother and uncle, as well as the company that organized the dog hunt. At the start of the investigation, Christophe also joined the case as a civil party. Elisea’s family, who had taken Christophe in for many months after the crime was committed, stated that they would very much like to know the content of the phone call. The company’s lawyer pointed out that the hunting dogs’ route did not coincide with Elisea’s.
The prosecutor spoke for about two hours. She said there was only one reason Elisa called Christophe—that he was the only one who could calm the dog down. The hunters also testified that the defendant had told them he had a dangerous dog.
At the conclusion of her closing argument, the prosecutor requested that the charge be changed to manslaughter caused by a dog attack without aggravating circumstances and that a four-year suspended sentence be imposed.
He also requested that Curtis be euthanized.
The dog, who was 2 years old at the time of Elise’s death, is still at a shelter in Haute-Garonne. His bowls, baskets, and blankets have been taken away because he systematically destroys them. Fed once a day, at the end of the day, he is kept in a 10-square-meter space and moves freely between a 4-square-meter kennel and a small 6-square-meter outdoor yard. The area is surrounded by a metal fence to prevent any escape or theft.
UPDATE: The defendant’s attorney requested an acquittal. He pointed out that the medical examiners had concluded the injuries could have been caused by multiple dogs, especially given their distribution, and the emergency physician had stated that it was impossible for a single dog to inflict such injuries; however, the hunting dogs were not examined until two hours after the incident. He paid tribute to the victim’s mother, spoke about the tragedy’s impact on the defendant’s life (“this man is in a prison—the prison of remorse. The obsession that he arrived too late and that he didn’t know how to protect Elisa. If he made mistakes, I believe he has paid dearly for them.”) and added that today no one can walk peacefully in a forest anymore.
He added: “When a tragedy occurs, it is hard for us to accept that there is no single person who can be held responsible. We desperately want someone to be held accountable. In a tragedy like this, we are tempted to construct a narrative of human responsibility.”
In his closing statement, Christophe said: “I loved Elisa more than anything (…) I miss her. And I fought this battle for seven years for her. (…) If I had known there might be a risk to her, I would have taken the necessary precautions.”
We will find out what the court’s decision will be on June 11, 2026, at 2:00 p.m.
𝐃𝐚𝐜𝐚̆ 𝐟𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐚 𝐬-𝐚𝐫 𝐟𝐢 𝐢̂𝐧𝐭𝐚̂𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐭 𝐢̂𝐧 𝐑𝐨𝐦𝐚̂𝐧𝐢𝐚
According to Government Emergency Ordinance No. 55/2002 (link 3), the importation of fighting and attack dogs—which, based on their physical characteristics, are similar to Pit Bulls, Boerbulls, Bandogs, and their crossbreeds—is prohibited in Romania. Such an offense is punishable by imprisonment for a term of 3 months to 2 years or by a fine.
Organizing dogfights, training dogs for this purpose, and participating in such fights with dogs constitutes a criminal offense and is punishable by imprisonment for a term of 6 months to 3 years or by a fine.
The penalty for the crime of manslaughter is imprisonment for a term of 2 to 7 years when the offense was committed as a result of failure to comply with legal provisions or safety measures governing the practice of a profession or trade or the performance of a specific activity.
Resources:
1. Art. 221-6-2 of the French Criminal Code:https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/…/LEGIARTI000…/2026-02-20
2. Articles from France on this topic (the first three provided live coverage of the daily hearings):https://www.bfmtv.com/…/direct-mort-d-elisa-pilarski-le…,https://www.bfmtv.com/…/direct-mort-d-elisa-pilarski-le…, https://www.bfmtv.com/…/direct-mort-d-elisa-pilarski…,https://www.lemonde.fr/…/la-derniere-balade-en-foret-d…,https://france3-regions.franceinfo.fr/…/affaire-elisa…, https://www.lemonde.fr/…/elisa-pilarski’s-partner…,https://www.lemonde.fr/…/is-curtis-guilty-click…,https://www.lemonde.fr/…/on-the-second-day-of-his-trial…
3. Government Emergency Ordinance No. 55/2002:https://legislatie.just.ro/Public/DetaliiDocument/35880