Maëlys trial: Nordahl Lelandais insensitive to the pleas of the civil parties

Gwladys Laffitte 6:59 p.m., February 16, 2022

This Wednesday marks the end of the debates in the trial of the Maëlys case.

The verdict that awaits Nordahl Lelandais must be known on Friday.

The lawyers for the civil parties pleaded before the Assize Court of Isère, in Grenoble.

A day to remind jurors and judges of the pain of parents at having lost their 8-year-old daughter.

13th day at the trial of Nordahl #Lelandais in Grenoble.

On the program this morning are readings and then the first pleadings of the civil party lawyers.

#Maelys@Europe1pic.twitter.com/3S1hFIwDEq

— Gwladys Laffitte (@Gwwla) February 16, 2022

Maëlys' father has lived like a "living dead" since the girl's death

This is the case of Joachim de Araujo, Maëlys' father, who has been living like a "living dead" for four and a half years, explains one of his lawyers.

He describes this "long way of the cross" which today leads this grieving father before the court "without hatred, without crying out for revenge, but by demanding justice".

The father lost 25 kilos.

"It's the weight that Maëlys made when she disappeared", recalls his other lawyer to the court.

This thunders, looks the accused in the eye: "He screwed up your life."

In his deep voice, the lawyer says to him: "Nordahl Lelandais, I blame you because you made me doubt my ability to find humanity. You are a man who made the choice to give in to his darker drawings."

Nordahl Lelandais impervious to pleaded words

For the lawyer, there is no doubt, the former dog handler spotted his victim.

"I don't know if his memory haunts you, if you remember the grace that was that of Maëlys in her little white dress before it was soiled", he says.

But in his glass box, Nordahl Lelandais seems impervious to the words pleaded today, and to the emotions expressed in the courtroom during these three weeks of trial.