Maëlys affair: "Let justice take the full measure of the dangerousness of Nordahl Lelandais", wish the civil parties

"These three weeks will be terribly trying".On the eve of the Nordahl Lelandais trial, which opens on Monday before the Assizes of Isère, Fabien Rajon does not make a mystery about the difficulty of future debates.Nor on the state of mind of her client.The lawyer knows this, Jennifer Cleyet-Marrel, the mother of little Maëlys, "is waiting for" the accused.If not an ounce of truth.

The 8-year-old girl was killed on August 27, 2017 after a wedding celebrated in the town of Pont-de-Beauvoisin.A wedding in which she crossed the road to Nordahl Lelandais, last minute guest.The accused confessing six months later, after being faced with irrefutable material evidence.

"Maëlys' parents know that the progress towards the truth, they do not owe them to Lelandais but to the exceptional work of the investigators," said Fabien Rajon.At the end of meticulous technical and scientific investigations, the gendarmes ended up confusing the suspect."Clearly, without them this affair would surely still be unresolved and would constitute one more Cold Case ...", adds the Lyon lawyer.

Many gray areas in the file

However, many areas still remain in the file.How was the little girl in the former soldier's car?She who always asked for permission before leaving a place.She who had remained calmly inside the village hall, not even trying to play outside during the evening.For the rest, the child's parents prefer not to know.

"We protect ourselves by refraining from imagining the worst even if, unconsciously, we know very well what happened," says Maëlys' father, Joachim de Araujo to the Dauphiné Libéré, during oneInterviews granted to the press before the trial."Anyway, he's a liar," says the mother.He will not say anything at all but he broke the life of my little chick, who had all his life in front of her.He erased everything in a second as if she did not matter.»»

"The damage inflicted on them is exceptional"

The life of Araujo's family "stopped on August 27"."The six -month period during which Lelandais refused to tell them where their daughter was terribly hard to live for them, points out Fabien Rajon.It was a real hostage taking, a mental torture.The damage inflicted on them is exceptional.»»

"Joachim pays him at a high price," confirms Laurent Boguet, Maëlys' lawyer.It cost him his mental health, his job, his couple.The parents separated.They were unbearable to continue living in this house.They could no longer look at each other in front of the other without reminding them of their daughter's tragic disappearance.»»

In the ranks of the civil parties, no one swallows the hypothesis of an "involuntary" death, advanced by the accused since his confessions, delivered on February 14, 2018. The former soldier confined himself to the same version of the facts.He would have taken the child to his car to show him his dogs.He annoyed himself to hear him cry and hit him several times, "without intention to kill him".

"I don’t believe a word traitor, cut Laurent Boguet before driving the point.It is the fruit of the impulse of a predator who set his sights on an 8 -year -old child having no capacity for resistance. "For the Toulouse lawyer, no doubt about the real intentions of the accused."I don't think he just kidnapped Maëlys to, as he always claimed, allow him to go and see the dogs at his home," he said.Nordahl Lelandais has extremely powerful impulses and a relationship with sexuality that questions.Obviously, he has big needs.And when he has sexual needs, all the dikes are destroyed.»»

A "predator" with "pedocriminal inclinations"

According to Laurent Boguet, the future trial will allow "to approach real questions", namely the accused's "pedocriminal inclinations".Because after the discovery of the body, the experts noted that part of Maëlys' hair had been "cut" and its "lacerated" dress, spreading the hypothesis that tears were caused by griffins of bramble oranimals.During the survey, the gendarmes also found many child pornographic videos in the Nordahl Lelandais computer.The man will also be tried, during these three weeks, for the sexual assaults of two of his little cousins, committed respectively a month and a half and a week before the murder of Maëlys.

"Nordahl Lelandais is part of a logic of seduction.He creates a link with his victim, abusing it to kidnap her and then satisfy his needs, ”accuses Laurent Boguet.And to analyze: "He has a perfect mastery of the prohibited character of his actions.He puts his phone in plane mode, he hides the bodies.He spares no effort to make any form of traces disappear.We are dealing with a real criminal who does everything so as not to have to pay the bill.»»

On the defense side, radio silence.Alain Jakubowicz, the lawyer for Nordahl Lelandais, is not used to expressing himself before a trial.He did not wish to derogate from his principles, he said at 20 minutes.His client risks life imprisonment.The verdict is expected on February 18.

"We hope that there will be as long as possible in prison," Maëlys' parents in the Dauphiné Liberated in unison.“Basically, they were, like all the guests to the wedding, deceived by Lelandais.Today, their fear is that he manages to deceive the jurors of the Assize Court, "said Fabien Rajon.And to conclude: "They want justice to take all the measure of the dangerousness of this individual.»»