The Assize Court of Isère sentenced, Friday, February 18, Nordahl Lelandais to life imprisonment with a 22-year security sentence for the murder of little Maëlys in August 2017.
This conviction is in accordance with the requisitions of the Advocate General, who had qualified the accused of "absolute social danger".
Standing in his box, Nordahl Lelandais reacted calmly to the statement of the verdict, which coincidentally falls on his 39th birthday.
The girl's family remained without apparent reaction to the statement of the verdict, which corresponds to a maximum sentence.
The defense had argued for a 30-year sentence
The former soldier had been on trial since January 31 for the kidnapping and murder of Maëlys, 8, as well as for sexual assaults against two little cousins aged 4 and 6 during the same summer of 2017.
The defense had argued for a 30-year sentence to allow Nordahl Lelandais to "keep hope, however distant".
He is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for the murder of a young soldier, Arthur Noyer, who had crossed his path in April 2017.
Just before the start of the deliberation, which lasted about seven hours, Nordahl Lelandais had one last time apologized to the family of little Maëlys.
"I know that the families will never accept my apologies, but I must present them with the utmost sincerity," he said.
After several fluctuating versions during the investigation and the trial, he admitted all the facts of which he is accused but fiercely denies any sexual attack on his little victim.
With AFP
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