Of American nationality, June Hopkins and her son are accused of having spied for months on their ex-companion and father and of having attempted twice to assassinate him.
Sentences of 16 and 12 years of criminal imprisonment were requested on Friday against an American mother and son, accused of having attempted to murder the latter’s French father twice, against the backdrop of ” conspiracy” and family heritage.
Advocate General Olivier Bray also requested interdictions from the territory, and requested that the alteration of discernment for the son, “under the cutof his mother, be retained.
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In 2010, June Hopkins, 60, and her son Brendan Walsh, 30, had recently reconnected with the latter’s father, Grégoire L., whom they had not seen for 15 years. In the summer, an argument had broken out when Grégoire L. had noticed that his American family had searched his papers, in particular those concerning the estate of his father. His son had then, according to his version, poured barbecue lighter on it, before trying to light a lighter. The second assassination attempt dates from 2015, when Grégoire L. and his sister were attacked outside their home by “Americans“, who had tried to strangle them, motorcycle helmets on their heads. The mother and son were arrested the next day.
A “fierce hatred, an absolute desire for revenge»
“What investigators don’t yet knowat the time, the attorney general said, was that June Hopkins and her “armed arm” of sons lived then for three years “in isolationin Paris, devoting all of their time to spying on and harassing Grégoire L., driven by a “fierce hatred, an absolute desire for revenge“. In their cellar, the investigators had found camera glasses, camouflage vests, masks, a saw, a machete and an ax.
The two defendants denied the facts, assuring that they were in truth themselves victims of a “conspiracyof the father and his relatives, to eliminate them. “Why ?“has not stopped asking the Assize Court since the start of the trial on Monday, without obtaining a coherent answer.
“The conspiracy is a smokescreen“, swept the Advocate General. “We created a story to legitimize the actions“. It’s a “crazy story“, they look “of amateurs“, but it’s not “funny“, he added. Gregory L.,fell into a deep depressionand whose life had becomea hell“, and his family, had “nothing asked“, he also hammered. The verdict is expected in the afternoon.
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