Jean-Luc Boujon (in Grenoble), edited by Solène Leroux
Very strong day Monday at the trial of Nordahl Lelandais before the Assize Court of Isère in Grenoble. It was first the parents of little Maëlys who told who their daughter was and how this disappearance devastated their family. Then it was the turn of the older sister of Maëlys, Colleen De Araujo who, from the height of her 16 years, spoke directly to the accused. From the outset, she plants her black eyes in those of Nordahl Lelandais, standing straight in front of him. “Look at me, and tell me how it felt to have killed Maëlys, then to have thrown him like waste in the mountain”, she began.
The 16-year-old girl, full of confidence and contained anger, continues. “You think you’re tough, but in fact, you’re the waste. I don’t believe in your excuses or your tears,” she told him. “Where is your courage? You have a family! We don’t have any more, you destroyed everything. Now I want you to tell us the truth: did you rape my sister before killing her?” The question, frontally, takes Lelandais by surprise, who seems to waver for a moment. But it doesn’t last: he pulls himself together and replies, his voice flat: “No, I didn’t rape your sister!”
The accused admits his pedophile inclinations
Even jostled, the 38-year-old ex-soldier does not crack. But it was useful, says master Fabien Rajon, the lawyer for Maëlys’ sister. “For several days now, we have been talking about the pedophile inclinations of Nordahl Lelandais”, he recalls. “And this question was quite natural. It is a 16-year-old teenager who asks it directly to the accused, with a lot of courage. I think that Colleen will come out of these meetings stronger. She gave us a very, very good lesson in humanity”, concludes the lawyer.
Because indeed a little earlier in the day, Nordahl Lelandais, confronted with personal videos, recognized for the first time his pedophile inclinations. Videos he shot himself, showing touching practiced on his six-year-old cousin while she was asleep.