Amandine Estrabaud was 30 years old when she vanished from her house in Roquecourbe, in the Tarn, on June 18, 2013.
Guerric Jehanno, a lonely mason, has been on appeal since Monday in Toulouse for having raped and killed the young woman and then made her body disappear.
Sentenced to 30 years in prison during his first trial, he still claims his innocence.
"I am innocent, not guilty ... I've been in detention for five and a half years ... This has to stop." On the first day of his appeal for the rape and murder of Amandine Estrabaud, "the disappeared of the Tarn", Guerric Jehanno, who secretly pinched for the victim, defended himself from any involvement in her disappearance.
The 32-year-old ex-mason appeared at the opening of the proceedings less passive than during his first trial a year ago in Albi.
Marie-Hélène Pibouleau, one of his lawyers, relying on psychiatric experts who noted the "fairly low intellectual level" of the accused, believes that at the time, he had not realized of the stake.
"It's not him, so as long as it wasn't him, he never believed he was going to be sentenced."
He can see just why he is asked to defend himself, ”she analyzed on the sidelines of the hearing.
The family is waiting for a confession
And if his defenders expect Guerric Jehanno more combative this time, the family of Amandine hopes for his part that he will relieve his conscience, in particular to allow the body to be found and to give it a decent burial. “I think the facts are so serious that he buried them and convinced himself that he was innocent and convinced himself that he did nothing. We can see that he no longer has access to his emotions at all, ”underlines Rémy Estrabaud, the victim's brother. “There is a time in Assize Court when something exceptional can happen, also explains Guy Debuisson, the lawyer for the civil parties. I think that if he really feels that he will not get out of this, if only out of empathy towards the family, it is not impossible for him to confess ”.
Guerric Jehanno has always claimed his innocence in front of investigators.
But it was his mother, finding her behavior strange after the disappearance, who had put the gendarmes back on her trail three years after the fact.
And, in detention, he confessed successively to several fellow inmates to have committed the irreparable.
These cell confidants will take the witness stand tomorrow.
The verdict of the Haute-Garonne Assize Court is expected for Friday.
Justice
Disappeared from Tarn: Eight years after the disappearance of Amandine Estrabaud, her alleged murderer on appeal
Justice
Missing Tarn: Guerric Jehanno sentenced to thirty years in prison for the rape and murder of Amandine Estrabaud
Justice
Trial
Toulouse
Murder
Assize Court
0 comment
0 share
Share on Messenger
Share on Facebook
Share on twitter
Share on Flipboard
Share on Pinterest
Share on Linkedin
Send by Mail
To safeguard
A fault ?
To print