Doubt finally prevailed. Mamadou Diallo, who denied throughout his trial before the Assize Court of Ain being the murderer of the postwoman of Montreal-la-Cluse in 2008, was acquitted “benefit of the doubt” this Monday evening. “From the beginning, I declare that I am innocentI have nothing to do with the death of this poor woman”, assured the 32-year-old defendant on several occasions before the Assize Court. After nearly five hours of deliberation, the 30-year-old was however sentenced to two years’ imprisonment – a sentence covered by his pre-trial detention – for the theft of a wad of banknotes which he recognized. Confused by his DNA nearly ten years after the facts, Mamadou Diallo claims to have gone to the scene of the murder but to have fled after discovering the victim’s body.
Even before the verdict, the defense lawyer, Me Sylvie Noachovitch, alerted the court and the press to the risk of a “miscarriage of justice” in this case, highlighted by a book by the journalist at Le Monde, Florence Aubenas, the Unknown of the Post. The requisitions were heavy: the Advocate General, Eric Mazaud, demanded thirty years in prison against Mamadou Diallo, castigating “the thesis of the spectator profiteer” and the “constant adaptation in the lie” of the accused. And to add: “If you are not a spectator, it is because you are an actor on the scene.”
The body of Catherine Burgod, 41, was discovered on December 19, 2008 at 9:05 a.m. in the back room of the small post office in Montreal-la-Cluse, bathed in a pool of blood. Twenty-eight stab wounds had been recorded on the body of this mother of two children who were 5 months pregnant. On the stand, on the first day of the hearing, a municipal policeman described the horrific scene: “She was lying on her back, it looked like a puppet.”
Confused by DNA
The villainous track was quickly followed by the investigators, a sum estimated at 2,490 euros having been stolen. The murder weapon remains untraceable. And no probative testimony has allowed the investigation to progress. For years, it was the former hope of French cinema Gérald Thomassin who was in the sights of justice. Having become marginal, he lived opposite the Post Office when the crime was committed. Reported missing in 2019, he was dismissed in 2020.
The case rebounded in 2017, when a match was established after a simple credit card theft. The DNA taken from a coin mechanism in the context of this case corresponds to that found on a bag found near the body of Catherine Burgod. It belongs to Mamadou Diallo, who at the time of the events was doing an internship near Montreal-la-Cluse. As soon as he was arrested, Mamadou Diallo admitted having gone to the scene to “Buy a train ticket” and having discovered the lifeless body of the mother of the family. “I panicked, I didn’t think, on the way out I took a wad of cash, I ran out,” declared at the bar the one who was a 19-year-old high school student at the time of the facts.
“He lies to the point of absurdity”
Why did you vary in your statements during the investigation? Due to the “trauma”he defends himself, assuring to be “sincere”. During his indictment, the Advocate General hammered on the one described by his relatives as “a nice and calm boy”: “He lies to the point of absurdity, about his time of arrival, about his presence on the scene, about the reason for his presence, about the presence of blood on him.” “I could never have done that, I am not violent” , “I’m accused of a horrible murder, I can’t get over it”, “I’m ashamed, I’m so ashamed, my whole family, my loved ones are here because of me”,supported Mamadou Diallo at the helm.
For the lawyer for the civil parties, Me Séverine Debourg, her fluctuating declarations and her lack of precision on the facts, are “a dodge”. “On Thomassin, there is no objective element. On Mamadou Diallo, whether we like it or not, there is this presence of DNA, and the fact that he is not able to explain where he is precisely, it is all the same very surprising »continues Me Debourg. “He does not want to answer, he is able to go and give us incredibly precise details about surrounding things, even very close to the time which supposedly is traumatic for him”, she noted. She concludes by evoking the relatives of Catherine Burgod: “They wanted explanations on Mr. Diallo’s version and they didn’t get any.”