Nordahl Lelandais once again apologized “sincerely” Friday to the family of little Maëlys before the jurors of the Assize Court of Isère retired to deliberate on her fate.
“I acknowledge all the facts of which I am accused, with sincerity. I know that the families will never accept my apologies but I must present them with the greatest sincerity”, declared the accused Nordahl Lelandais against whom the public prosecutor requested life imprisonment with 22 years of security.
Sentenced last year to 20 years in prison for the murder of a young corporal in April 2017, the former dog handler is on trial for the kidnapping and murder of Maëlys De Araujo, during a wedding party, as well only for sexual assaults against two little cousins, aged 4 and 6, during the same summer of 2017.
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“I also heard the experts on the long work I have to do on myself, I am aware of it, I will do it with great determination,” he said, standing in his box. in a light shirt facing the court. After his last words, the three magistrates and six jurors retired to deliberate. The verdict, which coincides with his 39th birthday, is expected during the day.
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Shortly before the start of the hearing, Maëlys’ mother, her sister and their relatives had arrived at the courthouse all wearing the same black polo shirt printed with the girl’s face. A large banner proclaiming “Truth and justice for you Maëlys. We will never let go” had been deployed on the forecourt.
Read also:Maëlys case: “You must send Nordahl Lelandais to prison like a great predator”
The public prosecutor had demanded the maximum sentence against him
For Joachim De Araujo, Maëlys’ father, the defendant’s latest statements are “a form of comedy”. “If it was sincere, it would have touched me, but now I see that it’s not at all sincere,” he told BFMTV when he left the courtroom. He now says he is waiting for “the verdict, yes life”.
“We did not get the truth from Nordahl Lelandais but we did not expect it from his mouth. We have an objective truth which is that of the file, which is overwhelming for (him)”, estimated from his on the side of Me Fabien Rajon, lawyer for Maëlys’ mother.
On Thursday, the public prosecutor had demanded the maximum sentence against him, a life sentence with a 22-year security sentence. His defense for his part tried to convince the jurors to limit the sentence to thirty years of imprisonment.
The accused is an “absolute social danger”, said Advocate General Jacques Dallest in his indictment, calling on those who judge him to declare him “a major criminal, a major predator”. “Even severe, the essence of justice is to remain human,” pleaded defense lawyer Alain Jakubowicz. “30 years in prison, locked up, that’s what he clearly deserves and he knows it”. Since the beginning of the trial, the accused has delivered fluctuating versions of the disappearance of the girl, varying in particular on the circumstances of the abduction of his victim.
He ended up admitting to having killed him “voluntarily” by hitting her violently in the face, a few minutes after taking her from the village hall where he had met her shortly before. He justified this sudden outbreak of violence by evoking a fit of panic, a “hallucination”, explaining that he saw on the girl’s face appear that of Corporal Arthur Noyer whom he had killed five months earlier.
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