Rose Filippazzo faces life imprisonment for having killed her husband with a bullet in the head in September 2018, near Lyon.
Her lawyer, Janine Bonaggiunta, who defended Jaqueline Sauvage and Valérie Bacot, presents her as a victim of long physical and moral suffering inflicted by her husband.
On Wednesday, on the first day of the hearing before the assizes of the Rhône, the investigators, on the contrary, painted the portrait of a "black widow", of a "Cruella" eaten away by "excessive jealousy".
Pale, emaciated face, features as drawn as her long black hair tied in a ponytail, Rose Filippazzo gives her version of the facts.
"It's not that that night, it's 28 years," she justifies herself.
Twenty-eight years of marriage, of “constant arguments that have become the norm” in her couple, of “reciprocal insults”, she says between two sobs, curled up in her thick black coat and her hands tied.
Presented by her defense as a victim of physical and moral suffering, this 50-year-old mother is appearing until Friday before the Rhône assizes for having shot her husband Michel Zirafa in cold blood on September 16, 2018. Killed by a single bullet to the head fired less than ten centimeters from his skull, while he slept on the couch.
“He made me repeat that I was dirty, that I was trash, in front of my daughter.
He pulled me by the hair and forced me to get on my knees to say it, ”she says to justify her fatal gesture.
Sitting on the defense bench, her lawyer Janine Bonaggiunta, a specialist in domestic violence, encourages her to continue.
It was she who defended Jacqueline Sauvage but also Valérie Bacot.
The investigations "did not go all the way", she accuses, believing that the gendarmes carried out an investigation against them without digging any further.
"Black Widow", "Cruella"
On the first day of the debates, the depositions of the investigators, citing the very many witnesses heard in 2018, came to tarnish the image of a submissive wife, abused who would have liked to free herself from decades of suffering.
At the helm, Chief Warrant Officer Gilles Ferrard, who says he is "surprised by the coldness" of the accused, shapes the image of a woman showing "no empathy".
A "black widow" to use the words of one of her former lovers.
A "Cruella", will even advance one of the couple's acquaintances, he recalls.
The mobile is still unclear.
Only two hypotheses are possible: the lure of profit, namely the prospect of being able to benefit from the various life insurance policies of his Michel Zirafa after his death.
Or nearly 330,000 euros.
Or “excessive jealousy”.
Rose, who had been in an adulterous relationship for nearly two years, would not have supported her husband's romantic conquests.
Michel, described as a “mythomaniac”, “liked to embellish things”.
He "invented romantic relationships to enhance himself" with those around him, to show that he was "capable of pleasing young women".
"He was taking photos in order to distribute them to his wife's relatives so that it would come back to his ears", explains the gendarme.
He also gave them presents.
This is what “could have reactivated the jealousy” of the accused.
“We try to use domestic violence to disguise reality”
Rose Filippazzo, who faces life imprisonment, was 18 when she married Michel Zirafa.
Him, 15 years old.
Their “mode of operation”?
The "jealousy" they each felt towards the other.
The constant arguments.
Short breakups followed by tumultuous reconciliations.
“They loved each other as much as they hated each other,” sums up Marie-Harmony Belloni, the victim's father's lawyer.
“Very clearly, we had a toxic relationship on both sides.
It must be understood that there is no dominant-dominated relationship,” she continues.
And to drive the point home: “We are far from the picture evoking emotional dependence and the fact that the victim had no other way out than to kill her husband to survive.
The,
At the end of the hearing, Janine Bonaggiunta fulminates.
In his line of sight, Chief Warrant Officer Ferrard came to testify this Wednesday afternoon.
“He just makes assumptions, assumptions.
He is not there to give his opinion but to provide evidence that supports his statements.
However, he does not do it, ”she gets carried away.
The couple's daughters at the bar on Thursday
Questioned on several occasions by the president of the court asking him what "elements" allowed him to "objectify" his statements, the witness did not provide much.
Nothing that could prove that the victim had acted out of jealousy, nothing either that could support or rule out the alleged domestic violence.
In January 2017, the accused filed a complaint against her husband for having slapped him.
He admitted the facts and received a legal warning.
In July of the same year, a second complaint for violence, harassment and insults.
This time, the wife presents a medical certificate giving her six days of ITT.
The gendarmes did not dig, gets angry Janine Bonaggiunta.
“This investigator did not mention it at the bar, just as he did not talk about the violence of the husband.
He never talked about throwing huge tantrums to the point of smashing his car, throwing things around, ramming his car against a wall.
All this is passed over in silence, it is scandalous, ”she denounces.
The proceedings will continue Thursday morning with the testimony of the couple's two daughters, relatives and the former lover of the accused.
Justice
Lyon: 28 years of marriage, a death and questions about the motive ... A woman tried for the murder of her husband
Company
Delphine Jubillar case: On December 13, a reconstruction of the night of the disappearance will take place in Cagnac-les-Mines
Justice
Court case
assize court
Murder
Violence against women
Domestic violence
Lyons
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes