The young woman had been found naked in a rosebush, her body lacerated by several stab wounds. Simon Jegou, who denies the facts, was sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2021 at first instance.
A sentence of 25 years’ imprisonment was requested on Friday June 10 against Simon Jegou, tried by the Assize Court of Appeal of Ille-et-Vilaine for the murder of his partner Claire Bouchaud.
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The accused, who denies the facts, had been sentenced to 30 years’ imprisonment in 2021 at first instance by the Assizes of Côtes-d’Armor, a sentence judged “excessiveby Advocate General Stéphane Cantero. The partially naked and stabbed body of Claire Bouchaud, 35, medical secretary at the hospital, was found in a bramble on May 7, 2017 by a man who was walking his dog about twenty kilometers from Saint-Brieuc . The young woman had not given any sign of life since April 22. Simon Jégou had participated in several beatings organized in early May and showed a lack of empathy during the first days of the investigation, according to the investigators.
On the last day of the trial, which opened on June 2, the Advocate General returned at length to the “dysfunctions within the coupleand on the drug addiction of the accused, aged 35, to explain, according to him, this “crime of excess, this crime of resentment“. He underlined the coldness of the defendant, both at the time of his wife’s disappearance and during the appeal trial. “It all comes back to him about the multiple reasons he had for killing Claire.“, he added, recalling that the young woman had expressed the intention of leaving him and had discovered that he was using drugs again.
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The defense, provided by Frank Berton and Thomas Jourdain-Demars, for its part reaffirmed the absence of irrefutable evidence and requested the acquittal of the accused for the benefit of the doubt. “You are asked to sentence a man to 25 years in prison without knowing when, where, why or even how he killed her? You realize!“, pleaded Me Berton, denouncing “the testimony that is sold to youof a husband who kills his wife. At the end of the defense argument, the accused took the floor to reaffirm his innocence and his love for Claire. “Whatever you decide, we won’t be able to do justice to Claire today.“, he concluded. The verdict is expected by the end of the day.
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