A sentence of thirty years of criminal imprisonment.
And a suicide attempt.
On December 6, 2019, the trial of Willy Bardon in Amiens ended with this double sequence, which has remained etched in the memories of all those who attended.
For the unexpected verdict, first: if the judges chose to condemn Willy Bardon for the "kidnapping followed by death" and the "rape" of Elodie Kulik, they acquitted him for the "murder" of the young wife.
For the suicide attempt, then: after the announcement of the president of the court, the newly convicted swallowed capsules filled with Temik, a dangerous pesticide.
Read also: Kulik case: sentenced to 30 years in prison, Willy Bardon tries to commit suicide
After spending several days in intensive care, Willy Bardon woke up and decided to appeal. He is back in court in June 2021, this time no longer in Amiens but in Douai. The 40-year-old should have appeared free before the North Assize Court, since his third request for release was accepted in September 2020, but he has been imprisoned again since last May after violating his judicial control by coming into contact with a witness. It is therefore detained that he will face the three professional judges and the nine jurors drawn by lot responsible for examining the terrible end of Elodie Kulik.
At the beginning of 2002, this young 24-year-old woman was director of a banking agency in Péronne, in the Somme.
On the evening of January 10, she dined in a Chinese restaurant with a friend, then took her car home.
At 12:21 a.m., she called for help.
In the 26-second recording, several voices are audible: hers, first, which moans, screams and calls for help, as well as male voices, those of her attackers.
Two days later, Élodie's body was found partially charred in Tertry (Aisne), six kilometers from where her vehicle was found in an accident.
The young woman was raped and strangled.
An attacker found ... in the cemetery
Over the next thirteen years, many avenues were explored. One ended up bearing fruit: in 2011, the expertise of a DNA found at the crime scene made it possible to identify a man as being a relative in direct line with one of Elodie Kulik's attackers. It is finally established that this attacker is called Grégory Wiart. But the young man in question died in a car accident in November 2003 ... The investigators then carried out research in his entourage, in particular with one of his close friends, Willy Bardon, passionate like him of 4x4. The latter claims to have nothing to do with the Kulik affair.
But when in January 2013, the investigators place several relatives of Grégory Wiart in police custody and make them listen to the recording of the call made by Élodie Kulik, most of them say they recognize the voice of Willy Bardon.
Indicted, the native of Saint-Quentin denies.
He will never deviate from this position.
“I never touched her!
Nobody believes me, it's horrible!
[...] I was not there.
[...] I maintain that I am a stranger to these facts
,
”he
insists during his first trial, which takes place at the end of 2019 before the Somme Assize Court.
At the hearing, the debates crystallize around the famous recording.
To read also: Murder of Elodie Kulik: "I never touched her", assures Willy Bardon
During her indictment, the Advocate General requires thirty years of criminal imprisonment for "kidnapping and forcible confinement followed by death", but calls for an acquittal for the "rape" and "murder" of Elodie Kulik. On December 6, after deliberation, the Somme Assize Court finally sentenced the accused to thirty years' imprisonment for "kidnapping and forcible confinement followed by death" and "rape", but the accused was acquitted. "murder".
“This verdict made no sense. I am unable to understand it, ”
comments Me Stéphane Daquo, counsel for Willy Bardon, while the second trial of his client is about to begin.
“I hope that we can convince the jurors enough to obtain the acquittal of my client. On reading the file, and the file alone, there is no evidence against him,
”says the lawyer. “
The problem with this case is the legitimate emotion that may exist about what happened. It will be difficult for the jurors, who have probably already heard of the case from the media, to detach themselves from all this and have a completely objective look
”. Contacted, the lawyers of Elodie Kulik's relatives, taken by the trial of Jacques Rançon for the murder of Isabelle Mesnage, were for their part not available to answer the questions of
Figaro.
