• Thirty years of criminal imprisonment required this Monday against Mamadou Diallo for the murder of Catherine Burgod, the postwoman of Montreal-la-Cluse.

  • The accused, who was confused ten years after the events thanks to a DNA trace found at the scene of the crime, has maintained his innocence from the start.

  • His defense tried to revive the trail of actor Gérald Thomassin who had long been the number one suspect before being dismissed.

“50 shades of lies”: a 30-year prison sentence was requested on Monday before the Assize Court of Ain against Mamadou Diallo, 32.

The man has been on trial since last Monday for the murder of Catherine Burgod, a postwoman who worked in Montreal-la-Cluse and whose body was found stabbed with 28 stab wounds on December 19, 2008. Only the accused does not ceased to proclaim his innocence.

"I do not believe in the thesis of the profiteering spectator (...) and if we are not a spectator, it is because we are actors on the scene", declared the Advocate General Eric Mazaud, noting the "constant adaptation in the lie" of the accused.

“He lies to the point of absurdity, about his time of arrival, about his presence on the scene, about the reason for his presence, about the presence of blood on him”, lists the magistrate.

The accused confused by his DNA ten years after the facts

Confused by his DNA in the post office nearly ten years after the murder, Mamadou Diallo, who was 19 years old at the material time, claims to have gone to the scene to buy a train ticket but to have taken the escape by grabbing a wad of cash after discovering the victim's body.

The villainous track was quickly followed by the investigators, a sum estimated at 2,490 euros having been stolen.

The murder weapon remains untraceable.

And no convincing testimony, in particular for the crucial 29 minutes separating the last SMS from the victim and the discovery of his body, made it possible to advance the investigation.

The investigations were first oriented on the trail of Gérald Thomassin, ex-hope of French cinema who had become marginal, who then lived opposite this post.

The former actor has been missing since 2019, before he was dismissed.

But during the six days of debates, the defense tried to instill doubt again around the track leading to Gérald Thomassin.

The Thomassin track brandished again by the defense

For the Advocate General, this strategy is a “scarecrow that we will brandish at you, it serves to distract the birds to take them elsewhere”.

"The Thomassin track is worth nothing at all," he added.

"Don't mind, of course I'm going to talk about Thomassin, I'm convinced he's the culprit", launched in a loud voice at the start of the argument the defense lawyer, Me Sylvie Noachovitch, who alert since the start of the trial on the risk of "a miscarriage of justice" and who pleaded for the acquittal.

"Are you ready to put your hand to the fire that he is guilty?"

“, she asked the jurors.

Verdict expected at the end of the day.

Justice

Ain: Who killed the postwoman of Montreal-la-Cluse?

At the time of the trial, the mystery remains whole

Justice

Gérald Thomassin case: A dismissal for the ex-actor accused of the murder of a postwoman in 2008

  • Justice

  • Trial

  • assize court

  • Murder

  • Lyons

  • Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes

  • The post office