Since the opening of the Nordahl Lelandais trial, the relatives of little Maëlys have sketched the portrait of a “reserved” girl who would not have spontaneously followed a stranger, contrary to what the accused claims.
“She was suspicious”: of Maëlys, her relatives sketched the portrait of a “reserved” girl who would not have spontaneously followed a stranger, contrary to what Nordahl Lelandais claims during her trial for kidnapping and murder before the foundations of Isère. Dark eyes staring into the lens and wavy brown hair cascading over her shoulders. The face of eight-year-old Maëlys De Araujo appeared on placards posted after her disappearance on the night of August 26 to 27, 2017 during a wedding in Pont-de-Beauvoisin (Isère).
Since Monday, January 31, the day of the opening of the trial of Nordahl Lelandais, accused of having kidnapped and killed her, a canvas nearly one meter high representing the portrait of the girl on waves has been sitting at the entrance of the Assize Court. “My daughter was a reserved person, who did not go towards others,” said Jennifer Cleyet-Marrel, Maëlys’ mother, who constantly hugs her daughter’s framed photo. This white frame, she posed it ostensibly in front of the accused during his testimony.
She then recounted an episode that occurred a fortnight before the facts, during their vacation in Portugal: Maëlys had gone to feed ducks and had been scolded for going a little too far. “She would never have gotten into a stranger’s car when I had reprimanded her shortly before,” said the 41-year-old nurse. However, the accused, who claims to have killed “involuntarily”, by hitting the girl with his fists, maintained during the proceedings that she had gotten into his car without constraint.
To read, from our reporter in Grenoble:Maëlys case, did Lelandais premeditate the murder?
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A little girl fearful of strangers
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Like Maëlys’ mother, a childhood friend of her father describes “a little girl fearful of strangers”. A trait confirmed by a long-time friend of her mother, who, too, depicts a “playful” but “often lonely” and “cautious” kid in the face of adults. “She was more into boy’s games, football, Playmobil. What she loved were cats, dogs and walks in the forest”, detailed the latter in front of the court.
More than four years after the events, the enigma remains unsolved on the conditions in which Maëlys left the village hall during a wedding evening to find herself in the vehicle of Nordahl Lelandais. “It’s impossible for her to leave on her own, she was suspicious, cautious,” said Jennifer Cleyet-Marrel’s friend.
When his lawyer Me Alain Jacubowicz asks him if he “forced her physically” or if he used “persuasion” so that Maëlys took a seat in his car, Nordahl Lelandais’ answer, from the box, is in three words: “Not at all”. “Did she go up voluntarily?” Insisted Me Jacubowicz. “Whatever I say I won’t be believed, so it’s very, very difficult,” replied the 38-year-old former dog handler, inflexible.
What about the scratches noted in particular on the shoulder and the hand of Lelandais?
What about the scratches noted in particular on his shoulder and his hand during his hearing on August 28, 2017? Lesions made while gardening, he explained during the investigation. Maëlys’ father, Joachim De Araujo, considers these marks as the “sign” that his daughter, whom he calls his “warrior of light”, listened to his advice in the event of an attack and “that she had tried to defend themselves on that famous night”.
On Friday, the accused will be questioned in detail about this night of August 26 to 27. But Me Fabien Rajon, who defends the victim’s mother, already says he is “pessimistic about his ability to tell us what really happened on the evening of Maëlys’ disappearance”. Her body was found six months later: on February 14, 2018, Nordahl Lelandais confused by a trace of blood discovered under a carpet of his car, ended up confessing to having killed her “involuntarily” before leading the investigators into the massif of the Charterhouse.
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