Tony, three and a half years old, died under the beatings of his father-in-law in November 2016. On the fourth day of his trial before the Assizes de la Marne, Loïc Vantal did not try to cover up the beatings for weeks.
"I did not kill him on purpose," he added.
A stepfather who recognizes avalanches of beatings on a three-year-old child, a confused mother, who thought that "it was not so bad": at the trial of the death of Tony, the defendants drew Thursday the picture of a home where violence took precedence over words.
Thursday, the word was to the father-in-law, Loïc Vantal, suspected of having given the blows that led to the death of the little boy.
At the helm, he did not let any emotion filter out.
>> Find Europe Soir with Julian Bugier in replay and podcast here
"What did I do to Tony? I hit him. I terrorized him. I hurt him. I caused his death. I did not kill him on purpose," the man assured. 28 years old, already convicted seven times for acts of violence, which described the beatings received in childhood by his own father.
He referred to beating initially as an "educational method" to punish little Tony for wetting the bed or because he felt he was making fun of him.
Loïc Vantal hit because Tony "answered", the child "stole" and his tears did not move him.
"I couldn't stop typing."
"We are both responsible"
"I should have stopped," admitted the accused, who however refuses to take sole responsibility for the death of the little boy.
"We are both responsible. Point bar," he asserts, arguing that his partner, Caroline Letoile, never asked him to leave.
Unlike Loïc Vantal who told the Court "I deserve to be condemned", Caroline Letoile has not stopped tackling, claiming first to feel "guilty", then "responsible but not guilty", and pleading " fear "of his companion.
"At first, they were fags"
"I allowed Loïc to take care of Tony's education. At first, they were fags, punishment in the corner", she says, before it "degenerates".
She does not know "the blows he could have given her", thought "that it was not so bad".
The last week, that of an outburst of violence on the child, who succumbed to a bursting of the spleen and pancreas and bore dozens of signs of violence, she thinks "of a gastro".
Described as "immature" by experts, after a difficult childhood, falling according to her "easily in love" and fearing loneliness, she denies having "chosen Vantal against [her] son".
Asked Thursday about the qualities of Loïc Vandal, his own mother was unable to name one.
An ex-girlfriend came to this conclusion: "There is nothing good about him".