During his trial which has just begun at the Assize Court of Vesoul, in Haute-Saône, Jonathann Daval once again claims to be the only one involved in the death of his wife, Alexia Daval, which occurred in October 2017. He had appeared at first as a broken husband, before confessing this feminicide during a confrontation with his stepmother. 

Jonathann Daval, who had admitted after multiple turnovers having killed his wife, reaffirmed Monday that he was the only one involved in the death of his wife Alexia in 2017, on the first day of his trial before the assizes of Haute-Saône.

Invited by the president of the court, Matthieu Husson, to say if he still recognized "to be the only one implicated in the death of (his) wife", this computer scientist of 36 years, the red eyes and on the verge of tears, simply answered "yes".

He first denied the facts 

In an interview with BFMTV Monday morning, Me Gilles-Jean Portejoie, lawyer for Alexia's parents, had pointed to the "many gray areas of this file", evoking "the possible premeditation" and "the possible complicity", yet ruled out by instruction. 

Before questioning the accused, Matthieu Husson had recalled the facts and in particular the multiple reversals of Jonathann Daval during the two years of investigation: first denying the facts, he then partially acknowledged them, then retract and accuse his brother-in-law, then admit the murder again during a shocking hearing before the examining magistrate.

In June 2019, he finally confessed during the reconstitution to have set Alexia's remains on fire.

A highly publicized affair

"The trial is the one that will allow you for the first time to express yourself publicly on the facts of which you are accused", launched the president of the Assize Court.

"The death of a person in the intimacy of the couple is something tragic, but not uncommon. You should not be judged differently because this case has had a special impact. I owe you impartiality," the again assured the magistrate, instructing Jonathann Daval "to forget the media coverage" of this trial for which some forty media are accredited.

"Look at the court and the jurors, they are the ones who will judge you," Husson said.

Publicized from the start, the Daval affair occurred in the fall of 2017 in the midst of the #MeeToo wave and had moved the whole of France.

The body of Alexia Daval, a 29-year-old bank employee, was found hidden under branches and partially burned on October 30, 2017, not far from the Davals' home in Gray-la-Ville, in Haute-Saône.

It was her husband Jonathann who had reported two days earlier the disappearance of his wife while jogging.

The thirty-something had then played for three months the grieving husband before finally admitting to having hit and strangled Alexia on the night of October 27 to 28, 2017 at the marital home during a violent quarrel.