The Ille-et-Vilaine Assize Court of Appeal sentenced a 35-year-old man to thirty years' imprisonment on Friday for the murder of his partner.
He had been sentenced to the same sentence in 2021 at first instance by the Assize Court of Côtes-d'Armor.
The body of the 35-year-old victim was discovered naked and stabbed in a bramble in 2017 in Côtes-d'Armor.
The same penalty as in the first instance.
Judged since the beginning of the month by the Assize Court of Appeal of Ille-et-Vilaine, Simon Jegou was sentenced on Friday to thirty years of criminal imprisonment for the murder, which he has always denied, of his companion Claire Bouchaud in 2017 in the Côtes-d'Armor.
The partially naked and stabbed body of this 35-year-old medical secretary was discovered in a bramble on May 7, 2017 by a man who was walking his dog about twenty kilometers from Saint-Brieuc.
The young woman had not given any sign of life since April 22.
Simon Jégou had participated in several organized beats and showed a lack of empathy during the first days of the investigation, according to the investigators.
The victim had expressed his intention to leave him
On the last day of the trial, which opened on June 2, the Advocate General returned at length to the "dysfunctions within the couple" and to the accused's drug addiction to explain, according to him, this "crime of excess, this crime of resentment”.
He underlined the coldness of the defendant, aged 35, both at the time of the disappearance of his wife and during the appeal trial.
"Everything comes back to him on the multiple reasons he had for killing Claire", he added, recalling that the young woman had expressed the intention of leaving him and had discovered that he was using drugs again. .
The defense, provided by Frank Berton and Thomas Jourdain-Demars, for its part reaffirmed the absence of irrefutable evidence and requested the acquittal of the accused for the benefit of the doubt.
At the end of the defense argument, the accused took the floor to reaffirm his innocence and his love for Claire.
"Whatever your decision, we will not be able to do justice to Claire today," he concluded.
Towards an appeal in cassation?
After the verdict was pronounced, one of the defense lawyers, Me Thomas Jourdain-Demars, underlined, dejected: “A judicial truth has been established despite the many gray areas.
The questions where, when, how have never been answered in the last six days”.
The defender indicated that his client “reserves the right to lodge an appeal in cassation”.
For her part, Me Cécile de Oliveira, lawyer for the civil party, declared: “It was important for the family of Claire Bouchaud that Simon Jegou be found guilty of the murder.
The fact of closing and resisting any logic on the incriminating elements reinforces the severity “of the sentence, she estimated, referring to the attitude of the accused during the trial.
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