Me Jean-Guillaume Le Mintier defends Jérôme Gaillard, alleged murderer of his wife Magali Blandin, missing for more than a month in Montfort-sur-Meu.
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AFP
Jérôme Gaillard admitted in custody having killed his wife Magali Blandin before getting rid of the body by burying it in Boisgervilly, near Rennes.
According to his lawyer, the respondent could not support the separation and the departure of his wife, with whom he was in the process of divorce.
A hearing was due to take place on March 8 before the family court judge regarding child custody.
He lived with his horrible secret for five weeks.
He even had to face the many questions of his four children, when he first looked after them, before they were placed, without ever confessing the vile truth to them.
Jérôme Gaillard killed his wife Magali Blandin on February 11 on the landing of his apartment in Montfort-sur-Meu, near Rennes.
He hit her twice with a baseball bat, before hiding the body in the housing, then coming back after dark to get rid of it.
The lifeless body of this 42-year-old mother was found in the night from Friday to Saturday in Boisgervilly (Ille-et-Vilaine), two kilometers from the home of the one who shared his life for more than twenty years.
All these details, it is Jérôme Gaillard himself who delivered them to investigators during his police custody.
But why did this man without history fall into horror?
Why did this father pay men to kill his ex-girlfriend, before resolving to do it alone?
These questions will have to be debated before the Assize Court in several years.
But answers can already be provided.
“He couldn't stand her leaving him,” says Me Jean-Guillaume Le Mintier.
Magali Blandin had filed a complaint in September for domestic violence but the case was dismissed.
"He did not support the departure of Magali"
Saturday evening, Jérôme Gaillard's lawyer did not leave any doubt as to the motive for the murder.
Aged 45 and unemployed, this man was indicted and imprisoned for having killed Magali Blandin, a woman to whom he had been married for more than twenty years and from whom he had been separated since September.
“We are facing domestic homicide.
There is a notion of control, of possession of the other.
It's like saying: you can't leave, ”said the public prosecutor Philippe Astruc.
The lawyer for the main suspect was in the same direction.
“He could not bear the departure of Magali.
He found himself in a psychological stalemate.
He was always convinced that she would come back.
Until an event in November when he crosses paths with her in front of the marital home.
She no longer looks at him, he no longer exists.
He sees the family as a building.
That day, he had a form of realization that he will not be able to rebuild this edifice.
His main pillar was his wife, ”explains Me Jean-Guillaume Le Mintier.
This famous month of November is the tipping point of this sad story.
It was during this period that Jérôme Gaillard appealed to several Georgians that his neighbor had introduced to him and who were to kill his wife for him, in exchange for 20,000 euros.
Paradoxically, it is this extortion that allowed investigators to move forward in this murder case.
Having a recording where the defendant mentioned his murder plan, the Georgians tried to extract an additional 15,000 euros from him.
Separated since September, the couple had started divorce proceedings.
Important disagreements persisted in the couple, especially on financial management.
The specialist educator went to Rennes every day to work, when Jérôme Gaillard was unemployed.
But according to the lawyer of the respondent, it is the separation that would have pushed his client to kill the mother of his children.
“What led him to commit the act he did was that he was afraid of this hearing scheduled for March 8 before the family court judge.
He was afraid of losing custody of his children.
He was almost convinced of it and he said to himself: the siblings must not be divided.
Without Magali, he is nothing, that's what he declares.
He couldn't bear her leaving him.
He couldn't stand her leaving her children.
That's how he saw it, as a form of abandonment.
He believed he could rebuild by doing this.
This is completely crazy ".
Jérôme Gaillard was indicted and imprisoned on Saturday evening.
"There is only one culprit in this file," said Me Le Mintier.
However, he is not the only one to be involved in this file.
His neighbor, a Georgian, was presented to an examining magistrate overnight with a view to his indictment.
Just like his parents, aged 72 and 75, who are said to be involved in this premeditated murder, and for whom the prosecution has requested a remand in custody.
Two men and a woman of Georgian origin had been indicted on Friday, including one for murder in an organized gang.
Reindeer
Ille-et-Vilaine: The lifeless body of Magali Blandin found near Rennes
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