Jean-Marc Reiser’s trial is taking its course at the Strasbourg Assizes. He is accused of having premeditated the murder of Sophie Le Tan. Called to the bar, his ex-companions painted a terrifying picture of the defendant.
Since June 27, 2022, Jean-Marc Reiser has appeared every day before the assizes of Strasbourg. The 62-year-old man is accused of premeditating the murder of Sophie Le Tan in 2018. If the main suspect confessed to the murder of the young 20-year-old student, he denies having premeditated his gesture and claims to have acted out of anger. Jean-Marc Reiser, whose heavy criminal past has been brought to light, risks life imprisonment in this case. This Wednesday, June 29, the family of the young victim will be heard, she succeeds the ex-companions of the defendant, who came to testify before the judge. These latter have paints a terrifying picture of man with whom they once shared their lives.
“He was secretive, bossy, manipulative and intelligent“, assures one of the ex-mistresses. All confide in “his relationship of domination with others“and on the acts of sheer violence of which he would be capable.”Of course I was scared he tried to strangle me, he threatened me with a gun. It was violent, but I had the impression that he was controlling himself, because otherwise he could have killed me. I felt like I wasn’t the first to be beaten“, details one of the five women who came to the bar.
Sophie Le Tan case, a “frenzy of violence”
During this trial, the Bas-Rhin Assize Court will have to rule on premeditation. For this, the course of this fatal day has been retraced. On September 7, 2018, her birthday, Sophie Le Tan went to visit an apartment found through the classifieds. At the end of the visit, the economics student would have asked Jean-Marc Reiser, owner of the home in question, to go to the toilet. On his release, the defendant “would have allowed himself to hug her, to try a kiss. She would have rejected him. What would have made him angry. He would have kicked her, she would have screamed“, declares his lawyer Me Franis Metzger.
It would then have beencarried away by a frenzy of violence, blows that he could no longer manage. He finally became aware of it when he saw his inert body“, details the council. The body of the young girl is found a year later, dismembered, using a saw and identified after comparing the DNA found on it.
For the time being, the defense is based on the lack of proof of a premeditated act, but also on the fact that the young victim would not have suffered sexual violence. Indeed, during the testimonies of the ex-companions, Jean-Marc Reiser’s lawyers insisted on portraying an “angry”, “dominant” and “violent” man, but who would never have sexually assaulted his companions.