Acquitted after being tried for murder in the Seychelles, Otom speaks out

• For the first time since his acquittal on April 15 in the Seychelles, Thomas Debatisse, who was tried there for the murder of his companion, spoke in front of the cameras of TF1, in a report for the program

  Seven to eight.

• The 35-year-old from Nice recalls having been “exonerated” and explains: “For me, it is intolerable to tell myself that there are still people who can still believe the opposite.

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• Those close to Emmanuelle Badibanga do not believe that she could have committed suicide and are counting on the opening of a new trial in France.

He decided to come out of the silence to, he explains, "tell the whole truth, without filter" when there were, according to him, "only horrors, biased information, lies" in his subject.

For the first time since his acquittal, on April 15 in the Seychelles, Thomas Debatisse spoke in front of the TF1 cameras, in a report that the program

devoted to the case which earned him a year in prison. on this archipelago in the Indian Ocean.

The street artist, known by the nickname Otom, was tried there for the murder of his companion, found dead on April 27, 2021 in a room at Club Med on Île Saint-Anne.

Presented in voiceover as an "angry man", the 35-year-old from Nice recalls having been "exonerated" and explains: "For me, it's intolerable to tell myself that there are still people who can still believe the opposite.

The family of Emmanuelle Badibanga, who died at the age of 32, refuses to accept the thesis of suicide and hopes for the opening of a new trial, this time in France.

His sister Magali Lonoh, whom

had interviewed at the beginning of May, evokes "a huge injustice".

“They took away my mourning”

In this report of about twenty minutes, Thomas Debatisse explains for his part that the verdict handed down in the Seychelles sounded "the end of the humiliation", but that it will not "bring him [his] wife back".

He denounces on TF1 an investigation carried out on the spot only in charge.

"They took away my mourning, the right to attend my wife's funeral, to pay homage to her", regrets the graffiti artist, who recounts this trip which, according to him, began as a "honeymoon" and which ended ended tragically.

Invited to Club Med for the thirties to draw a fresco there, the couple formed eleven months earlier quickly experienced tensions.

On April 27, 2021, Emmanuelle Badibanga once again criticizes her companion for her overly flirtatious behavior with hotel dancers.

The graffiti artist confirms the disputes but explains that the tragic outcome of this day would mainly follow revelations that Emmanuelle Badibanga would have made to him the same morning.

"She said to me: 'When my father died, when I was little […], I was placed with friends of the family […], men abused me and, since then, I can no longer trust men".

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The tone goes up a little later on the supposedly charming behavior of Thomas Debatisse.

She "then blows her cigarette smoke in the face" of her companion who grabs the glasses on the young woman's face and crushes them, says the young woman's best friend, interviewed by TF1 and who had been in contact with her That day.

"It makes me an idiot but it doesn't make me a murderer"

"He could have outbursts of anger," says Magali Lonoh, Emmanuelle Badibanga's sister, in the

report .

Thomas Debatisse confirms in any case this last scene which occurred at the edge of the swimming pool of the hotel.

"Our dispute was the trigger" for what followed, he says.

"It makes me an idiot but it doesn't make me a murderer," says the Niçois who has always claimed his innocence.

What followed was the death of Emmanuelle Badibanga, whom the artist claims to have found hanging from the towel hook in their bathroom.

"When I wanted to come back [in the room] to make peace, [...] through the window, I saw his body in an abnormal position", describes the Azurean.

And to explain: “I immediately understood.

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A version that the Seychellois authorities did not believe.

“I was summoned by the police who immediately asked me to confess.

They told me he knew it was me,” he explains.

Incarcerated three days after the discovery of the body, he is accused of having strangled Emmanuelle Badibanga and of having disguised the murder as suicide.

A version contested by the defense of the street artist, who denounced "remarks contrary to any scientific truth".

In the end, the Seychelles Supreme Court jury found him not guilty, by a vote of six to two.

A parallel investigation launched by the Nice prosecutor's office and anatomopathological examinations carried out in Marseille lean towards the thesis of suicide.

In the

report , Emmanuelle Badibanga's best friend talks about the last messages and calls exchanged on the day of his death.

"I'm going to leave him," she announced about Thomas Debatisse a few hours before being found dead.

According to information from

, a meeting is scheduled for June 29 between the family, their lawyers and a representative of the Nice prosecutor's office in charge of the case.

Justice

Otom case: The family of the Frenchwoman who died in the Seychelles "does not want to let go" after the acquittal of her companion

Justice

Otom case: Tried for the murder of his partner in the Seychelles, the Nice Thomas Debatisse acquitted

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