That was a little over five years ago.

One day in April 2017, Claire Bouchaud's lifeless body was discovered in a bramble in Saint-Péver, about twenty kilometers from Saint-Brieuc (Côtes d'Armor).

It was a walker who had seen the corpse, hidden in a cavity near abandoned houses, which his dog had sniffed.

The autopsy carried out revealed that the 35-year-old medical secretary had been fatally stabbed in the area of ​​the heart.

By who ?

The Assize Court of Côtes d'Armor seemed to have no doubts and had sentenced his companion to thirty years in prison for the murder.

Simon Jégou, 35, appealed against his conviction.

Since this Thursday morning and until June 10, he has been tried by the Rennes Court of Appeal and swears not to be linked to the death of his companion.

"I claim my innocence, I did not understand the Court's decision last year," he said at the start of his trial.

His DNA had however been found on a syringe discovered not far from the body of the victim.

At the time, forensic identification techs also found a latex glove and a pack of cigarettes.

Up to 5-6 heroin injections per day

At the material time, the respondent had not reported the disappearance of Claire Bouchaud.

It was his sister who, worried, had alerted the gendarmes.

Simon Jégou had explained to the investigators that his companion had left for a garage sale, without taking her mobile phone, when she had to pick up their son in Rennes.

Addicted to cannabis from the age of 14 and then to heroin, which he injected five to six times a day, the accused had invented a burglary to defraud his insurance shortly before the disappearance, recalls

Le Télégramme

.

The victim had reproached him for this attitude and had made known his desire to break up.

“We really have a file in which there are many gray areas.

It is stated in the indictment that there is no evidence to establish Simon Jégou's guilt with certainty,” said the defendant's lawyer Frank Berton.

The lawyers for the civil parties believe that the accused is " indeed the author of this feminicide ".

"There are a number of elements that point to Simon Jégou as the perpetrator of this crime," said Me William Pineau, lawyer for the victim's family.

The trial continues until June 10.

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  • Justice

  • reindeer

  • Saint Brieuc

  • Femicide

  • Murder

  • assize court

  • court of appeal

  • Domestic violence

  • Brittany