Did Alexandra Richard act in self-defense or was it intentional homicide.

The question and the fate of this 43-year-old woman are in the hands of the Assises de l'Eure.

Sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2020 for killing her violent partner with a shotgun, her appeal trial opened on Tuesday morning and will last three days.

After declaring before President Julie Arzuffi that she did not recognize "the facts of murder on a spouse" with which she is accused, she sometimes enumerated in tears the violence she says she suffered from this man.

His daily life with the victim? “Violence, insults, fear. I was his object ", explains from her glass box this mother of three children questioned by her lawyer Lorraine Questiaux before the Assize Court of Eure, before adding:" he raped me ". Violence settles "very quickly in their relationship", assures the accused, recounting the first assault she says she suffered from the one who was to become the father of her third child. "I had barely returned, he grabbed my hair and threw me to the ground," explains the young woman in tears. “He had seen his photos of my life with my ex-husband in the attic. He was seized with a rage. He was hitting me hard. He was throwing the photo albums at me. He punched me, I fell off the stairs. He was insulting me. "You bitch."He started to set my wedding dress on fire. He tore it in front of me, ”she continues.

Threatened to be "smashed in the face"

On October 16, 2016, Alexandra Richard shot her 36-year-old husband with a hunting rifle at their home in Montreuil-en-Caux, when the latter, in a state of intoxication, had just risen from his chair in threatening to "kick his ass".

A petition launched before the trial in Seine-Maritime, entitled “No prison for Alexandra Richard”, still collects signatures on a daily basis.

She had more than 44,100 Tuesday morning.

"Yes, he was a violent man", had recognized the lawyer general Corinne Gérard before the Assize Court of Seine-Maritime in November 2020, "but you cannot respond to violence with violence".

The accused was finally found guilty of murder, while the general prosecutor's office only requested a conviction for "willful violence resulting in death without intention of giving it".

But the court had followed the magistrate on the quantum of the sentence.

"Naive", "maybe proud" and "empathetic"

The accused who describes herself as "naive", "perhaps proud" and "empathetic", was however "extremely in love". In 2013, “at the start of our meeting, Sébastien sparked sparks in my eyes. I was extremely in love with him. He was the ideal man. I found him super handsome. The attraction was there. We were a bit like teenagers. Very quickly he changed. He became violent, he isolated me from my friends, ”she explains to the court.

"Are you alone today?" Are you considering a couple project? », Asks President Julie Arzuffi. " No way. I want to be alone. Impossible to restore my confidence in a man ”, answers the accused, black bun, black and white shirt. “I am seen as a strong woman, but not at all. I am not a strong person. I have a lot of sadness deep inside me. I have anguish, stress. I withdrew a little on myself in detention, ”she assures us. The accused describes her detention as "horrible". “I see very little my children. My older daughter, I saw her a month ago. For 11 months, I have been separated from the people I love the most in the world, ”she said,“ today, if I am still standing, it is because I am thinking of my children ”.

"That he died, that's not what I wanted"

Dare feminism announced its presence at the trial.

"We think that Alexandra Richard found herself in a situation of self-defense", explained Thursday Quentin Dekimpe, one of the two lawyers of the accused.

In 2020, the young woman was defended by Nathalie Tomasini, who was the counsel of Jacqueline Sauvage, condemned for having killed her husband before being pardoned at the end of 2016. But she has since changed lawyers.

Before the assizes of Seine-Maritime, the accused admitted having loaded the rifle.

But for Me Dekimpe, this gesture was intended just to "give credibility" to his weapon.

"That he died is not what I wanted," had assured the bar Alexandra Richard, who had been in a relationship for about two years with this man convicted in 1999 for having shot a rival in love.

“It was a weapon of deterrence.

I wanted (…) to run away with my children, ”added the accused who said“ regret everything that happened ”.

"Even in prison, I slept better than next to him"

According to her account, her husband had started drinking whiskey in the morning before insulting her and being violent with her again.

The accused had come to warn her husband of the arrival of her ex-partner who wanted to talk about their children's vacation.

Faced with this man, she "is terrified", "she can not take it any longer", added Me Dekimpe who does not "refrain" from pleading acquittal. “Even in prison, I slept better than next to him. Nobody hit me, ”said Alexandra Richard, who then appeared free but had been in pre-trial detention.

For the lawyer of the parents of the victim, Me Rose-Marie Capitaine, “we are in the field of intentional homicide.

There is no self-defense.

There is not an assault at the precise moment when she fires ”.

"And the response must be proportionate to the aggression," continued the council.

Alexandra Richard, whose criminal record was clean before this first conviction, faces life imprisonment for intentional homicide.

For willful violence resulting in death without intention of giving it, the maximum penalty is 20 years' imprisonment.

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