Is it a child predator? Or a man overwhelmed by his actions during a watered evening? While the investigation of the Maëlys case is almost closed and the threat of a trial is approaching, Nordahl Lelandais is cutting down his final cards to present a smoother face. The Court of Cassation examines this Thursday two appeals formed by the former dog handler of 37 years, indicted and imprisoned for the murder of the nine year old girl on the sidelines of a marriage in Pont-de-Beauvoisin (Isère) in August 2017. But also for sexual assault on two little cousins of six and four years of age.
The first appeal seeks to have the statements of a fellow prisoner, the centerpiece of the prosecution, to seek prosecution for rape. However, if Nordahl Lelandais is sent back to the assizes for having sexually abused Maëlys in addition to having killed her, he is liable to a prison term of life called "real", that is to say with a period unlimited security.
This witness, who was his cell neighbor for almost six months in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier (Isère), told prison administration that the alleged killer had confided to him that he had imposed digital penetration on the girl when he took the car on the night of the incident. She would have struggled and he would have given her violent blows to control her.
VIDEO. Maëlys case: key dates of the case
Lelandais also reportedly told him that he had killed Corporal Arthur Noyer, a case for which he is also under investigation, because the young soldier refused to have oral sex. This testimony was the subject of two administrative reports submitted to the investigation: those of the prison warden in charge of the wing and the director of the prison.
But for the defense, the words reported by this fellow prisoner infringe "the right of the respondent to be silent and not to incriminate himself". Lelandais' lawyer, Alain Jakubowicz, sees it as an “unfair subterfuge”, contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights, aimed at “extracting information which was not obtained during interrogations”. The council wonders if this neighbor of cell was not deliberately placed next to his client to trap him, as would then prove his displacement towards another wing of the establishment as well as the transfer of the guardian author of the report.
He denies having confessed to his fellow prisoner any rape
A theory "which does not rest on any objective concrete element, except to imagine a plot, organized by whom and for what purpose? Had swept the Grenoble chamber of instruction on October 28, 2019 by validating the testimony of the fellow prisoner. Hence the cassation appeal of Nordahl Lelandais who also disputes having confessed to this individual any rape. He maintains that he gave Maëlys death, accidentally, in a moment of panic, when he wanted to show him his dogs at home.
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"If he is to be tried for rape, his version takes a hit," sums up someone close to the investigation. Taking the uncovered child to the car and then sexually assaulting him is not compatible with an accident. One might rather think that the murder was intended to prevent the victim from telling everything. "
The other appeal seeks to overturn an overwhelming psychological assessment for the former dog handler from Domessin (Savoie). With 73 pages, it paints a portrait of a Nordahl Lelandais inaccessible to any therapeutic process. "Psychically very unstable, this man was able to identify himself, during experiences of pathological dissociations, with his dogs, incorporating their animality, their instincts, thus losing a part of his humanity, writes the psychologist. He exercised a predatory grip on his victims whom he dehumanized, destroyed, reducing them to the state of objects which he could let decompose without any feeling of shame and guilt. "
For the defense, an attack on the presumption of innocence
For the expert, the "criminal acts" of Lelandais have their origin in his dark family history. A universe made up of paternal rejection, domestic violence in the family, suicide and even disappearance - an uncle - unexplained.
The defense, for its part, sees this expertise as an attack on the presumption of innocence. Lelandais' lawyer accuses the psychologist of having left his role and demands a new expertise. What the investigative chamber had refused, censoring only three passages.
The cancellation of such a play is a major issue for Lelandais, anxious to offer another image than that of a psychopath. "Arriving before an assize court on suspicion of the murder of a child is already heavy," recalls an experienced magistrate. When, in addition, all French people see you as a potential serial killer, you don't come out on top ... ”All the more so since the gendarmerie has created a special cell to try to find possible other crimes to blame him. So far in vain.