"I am not guilty, I did nothing and there is no witness", declared Wojciech Janowski, Thursday, in front of the court of appeal in Aix-en-Provence.
The former consul of Monaco justifies his confession in police custody by his concern to put an end to that of his ex-partner, the daughter of the businesswoman.
Wojciech Janowski defended himself on Thursday from being the sponsor of the assassination of his mother-in-law, billionaire Hélène Pastor, killed on May 6, 2014 in Nice with her butler. "I am not guilty, I did nothing and there is no witness", he said before the court of appeal in Aix-en-Provence (Bouches-du-Rhône). Confronted with the dissemination of his confessions during his police custody, he justified them by his concern to put an end to that of his ex-companion Sylvia Ratkowski, the daughter of the businesswoman.
On the screens, the man with brown hair, in a sky blue shirt and blazer no longer has anything to do with the accused, in gray tracksuit and whose hair has whitened completely. In the recording dated June 2014, we hear a policewoman questioning: "Did you order this assassination, yes or no?" ". A long minute of silence passes. Wojciech Janowski wipes his forehead and declares: "Yes, Madam".
Before the court of appeal, the former consul of Monaco sentenced to life imprisonment at first instance no longer speaks of a torn confession as he had done at the start of the case.
“Sylvia was taken hostage.
She was sick and I was told she wouldn't come out until I changed her version.
I committed suicide, I killed myself to save my wife, ”he blurted out, after viewing excerpts from his interrogation.
According to Sylvia Ratkowski, Wojciech Janowski "lies"
President Patrick Ramaël pushes him to his limits: “But when you meet an examining magistrate, accompanied by the President of the Bar of Marseille, you do not tell him that it is a scandal, a blackmail in police custody?
".
Sylvia Ratkowski, visibly shaken by a tense debate, had been allowed to meet her companion in police custody when she herself had been released the day before.
“Mr. Janowski told me crying that he had killed my mother to save me,” she reported.
During the investigation, she affirmed: my companion "lies by saying that he confessed so that I could get out of police custody because I had already been out and he knew it very well".
The former consul of Monaco accuses the son of Hélène Pastor
Wojciech Janowski accuses Pascal Dauriac, his sports coach, of having organized the double murder.
In police custody, he declared: "I asked Dauriac to solve my problem, and my problem was my mother-in-law".
New statement at the hearing: "the client is Gildo Pallanca [Pastor] and the person who executed the order is Pascal Dauriac".
Anger on the bench of the civil parties: "You are not ashamed to say that [he] could be the person behind the murder of his mother?
You are despicable ”, scolds Me Gérard Baudoux.
Asked earlier about his role as organizer of the double assassination, Pascal Dauriac confirmed that Wojceich Janowski had entrusted him with an envelope of 140,000 euros to “liquidate his mother-in-law”.
"I joined the criminal project, this irrational thing," he continues.
Since then, I dissect every moment of my life to understand.
"
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Court of Appeal
Assassination
Monaco
Aix en Provence
Trial
Justice
Nice