Two men and a woman, accused of having tortured a 40-year-old to death in 2019 in Cognac, were sentenced on Tuesday to life imprisonment by the Charente Assize Court.
They were found guilty of the murder with torture and barbarity of Gérald Matifas, 42 years old.
Two other people found to be accomplices in non-denunciation of the crime were sentenced to 18 and 24 months in prison.
"It is difficult to put words" on the torture inflicted on the victim, had estimated the general counsel, Sophie O'Hana, during her requisitions Monday after a week of hearing.
On the background of alcohol and drug use
Before being killed, Gérald Matifas, a 43-year-old resident of La Rochelle, was beaten, tortured, raped and mutilated between April 8 and 10, 2019 in Cognac, after an evening in Cathy Bichon's apartment, met a few days earlier on Facebook, with David Klein, her ex-companion, and Philippe Laroche, one of their acquaintances.
His body was found two weeks later in a wood in Charente-Maritime, partly charred, his sex cut.
The motive for the crime, which occurred against a background of heavy consumption of alcohol and drugs, and social misery, remains unclear, between accusations of rape and money.
Especially since Cathy Bichon (41 years old today), David Klein (38 years old) and Philippe Laroche (30 years old) passed the ball during the debates started on October 10.
"In turn they hit, raped"
Psychiatric experts have described the first as "manipulative" or "leader", the second as "fearful" but also "perverse", the third as "ultraviolent".
But the Advocate General said she was convinced of their joint responsibility.
“In turn they hit, in turn they raped him, in turn they urinated on him”, she hammered during her indictment, considering that each of the three accused shared the “homicidal intent”: “They decided together to end it”.
A woman "who has an absolute hatred of men"
In their defense pleadings, the lawyers of Philippe Laroche and David Klein made Cathy Bichon the instigator of the violence which swept over the victim.
"She will convince them that it is absolutely necessary to take Mr. Matifas' skin," said Véronique Chabrier, lawyer for the first, while her colleague Éva Dion, speaking for the second, spoke of a woman "who has an absolute hatred of men”.
"Being smarter does not make her a manipulator or a leader," retorted Marine Gautreau, counsel for Cathy Bichon.
“You don't have to judge monsters, you don't have to judge animals, you have to judge men.
Monsters do not exist, the facts are real, ”said Eva Dion to the jury, disagreeing with the idea of the same conviction for the three main defendants.
The jurors finally followed the requisitions of the general counsel, ie life imprisonment for the three defendants.
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