After more than ten months of investigation, an expert report drawn up by several specialists from the Strasbourg Court of Appeal, Reims and a behavioral veterinarian from Toulouse, an expert in the courts, established the guilt of Christophe Ellul's dog. , the spouse of Elisa Pilarski.
The latter, a young woman of 29 years pregnant with 6 months, was found half-eaten on November 16, 2019 while she was walking with the dog of her companion, Curtis, in the forest of Retz in Saint-Pierre Aigle, in the Aisne.
The autopsy report carried out in November 2019 revealed that the death was caused by "
a hemorrhage following several dog bites to the upper and lower limbs as well as to the head
".
A judicial investigation had been opened against X.
"
There are no more possible disputes, Curtis is guilty
", indicates to the
Figaro
Me Guillaume Demarq, lawyer for Sébastien van den Berghe, the crew master of the '
Rallye la Passion
', accused by the companion of the victim of being at the origin of the death of his wife.
Sébastien van den Berghe had indeed organized a hound hunt the same day in the sector.
To read also: Illegal importation, biting competition ... Why the Curtis dog is at the heart of the Pilarski investigation?
The guilt of the dog who is nicknamed "Dark Midnight" was established through a comparative analysis between the injuries found on the victim and Curtis' jaw as well as those of the 62 dogs of the company of venery.
The report shows that the bites seen on Elisa Pilarski's body are consistent with the size of Curtis canine's teeth and jaw.
According to our information, vets had traveled to the '
Rally of Passion
' to measure the teeth sizes of the dogs in the crew and performed a post-anesthetic cast on Curtis.
"
Hunting dogs are totally unrelated to the bites found on Elisa Pilarski's body
," says Me Guillaume Demarq.
“
Curtis turned against Christophe Ellul's partner, he tore off his muzzle to attack her, which explains the scratches on her head.
He must have been excited by the presence of hunting dogs
, ”he adds.
Me Alexandre Novion, Christophe Ellul's lawyer, calls into question the expert's report: according to him, comparing casts to photos of injuries is "
a dubious practice
" which "
poses a problem in terms of the selection of pictures
" .
The behavioral expertise of the report also shows that Curtis "
is not a mean and aggressive dog, but that it is a formatted and dangerous dog
", explains a judicial source close to the file.
“
Curtis turned on Elisa Pilarski because he had been trained in biting.
He was mistreated in the sense that he was trained as he was trained
”.
Indeed, three months before the tragedy, in August 2019, the dog, then two and a half years old, had left for Belgium to participate in competitions of “sporting mordants” dedicated to “American pitbulls” and organized by the ADBA (American Dog Breeders Association), a Belgian association of Pitbull breeders, as evidenced by the images posted by Elisa Pilarski on her Facebook page.
"
This report is a preliminary verdict built around prejudices on the education that my client gave to his dog
", reacts to the
Figaro
Me Alexandre Novion.
“
In this report, it all starts with a rift between the good, civilized hounds of the hunt with hounds and the bad hound imported illegally and who bite.
But to say that my client abused his dog is not true - my client has always been clear about this dog's education and there is no evidence to say that Curtis was abused
», Defends Me Novion.
Canine behavior expert Christian Diaz followed Curtis for 3 weeks while he was locked in the Toulouse region.
According to a source close to the file, he was able to observe that the dog was "
trained to bite until the object he was facing was destroyed
".
This same source explains that the expert came to the conclusion that the mastiff "
had been formatted to destroy
" when, after having suspended a decoy two meters high above Curtis' head, the latter remained gripped by the jaw by biting the hose several times for 50 seconds.
The behavior of the dog when he was admitted at the end of 2019 to the Clara Foundation's pound in Beauvais, in the Oise, had already challenged the experts: an educator questioned by the JDD explains that, after having bitten his master to the point of tearing him away his pants, the dog attacked a volunteer at the pound, who received twelve stitches and two months off work.
The behaviorist had concluded that Curtis could well
be
"
at the origin of the accident
" and that he remained "
dangerous to other people
".
Much awaited by the civil parties, the results of DNA tests, carried out 11 months ago, should be unveiled in a few days.
However, for Me Guillaume Demarq, the test results will prove "
nothing
" and are "
anecdotal
" because they would only prove "
post mortem
" contact - the conclusions of the expert report, on the other hand, contain overwhelming evidence against the Curtis dog.
For his part, Me Alexandre Novion declared that he wanted to "
ask for additional expertise
" or even "to
go further and discuss the regularity of the expertise
" to "
verify whether the veterinarians did not go beyond their mission
" by carrying out "
investigations which require a competence which is not theirs
".
The expert report, which contains information on Curtis' education, his performance, and a complete physical examination of the canine, would be, according to the representative of Christophe Ellul, insufficient to attribute this crime to Curtis.