"
I am not guilty, I did nothing and there are no witnesses
": the former Polish consul in Monaco, Wojciech Janowski, defended on Thursday being the sponsor of the assassination of his mother-in-law, billionaire Hélène Pastor. Judged on appeal in Aix-en-Provence (Bouches-du-Rhône), Wojcieh Janowski was sentenced in 2018 to life imprisonment at first instance for the assassination on May 6, 2014 in Nice of Hélène Pastor and her Egyptian butler. Confronted with his confessions passed in custody, he justified them by his concern to put an end to the custody of his ex-companion Sylvia Ratkowski, daughter of Hélène Pastor. The Assize Court of Appeal screened some extracts from the recording of the accused's police custody in June 2014.
To read also "I'm afraid": the last words of Hélène Pastor to the investigator
On the screens, the man with brown hair, in a sky blue shirt and blazer no longer has anything to do with the accused, in a gray tracksuit whose hair has completely whitened.
On the recording, we hear a policewoman questioning: "
Did you order this assassination, yes or no?"
".
A long minute of silence passes.
Wojciech Janowski wipes his forehead: "
It's yes Madam
".
On the screens of the Assize Court, we can hear the police taking care to explain the meaning of the words.
We see him dictate his answers taken verbatim.
"
When he wants a Coke, a sandwich, we go get him from the distributor
», Notes Thierry Herzog, lawyer for Gildo Pastor-Pallanca, the victim's son.
The former consul no longer speaks of a torn confession as he had done at the start of the case.
He explains that he confessed to save his wife.
“
Sylvia was taken hostage.
She was sick and I was told she wouldn't come out until I changed her version.
I committed suicide, I killed myself to save my wife,
”he says.
"My problem was my mother-in-law"
President Patrick Ramaël pushes him to his limits: “
But when you meet an examining magistrate, accompanied by the President of the Bar of Marseille, you do not tell him that it is a scandal, a blackmail in police custody?
". Sylvia Ratkowski, visibly shaken by a tense debate, had been allowed to meet her companion in police custody when she herself had been released the day before. "
Mr. Janowski told me, crying, that he had killed my mother to save me
," she reported. During the investigation, she had said: my companion "
lies by saying that he confessed so that I could be taken out of custody because I had already been out and he knew it very well.
".
Wojciech Janowski accuses Pascal Dauriac, his sports coach, of having organized the double murder.
Read alsoAssassination of billionaire Hélène Pastor: tried on appeal, her son-in-law cries out for a "conspiracy"
In police custody, he declared: "
I asked Dauriac to solve my problem, and my problem was my mother-in-law
". But, he proclaimed at the hearing, "
the sponsor is Gildo Pallanca and the person who executed the order is Pascal Dauriac
". Anger on the bench of the civil parties: "
You are not ashamed to say that Gildo Pallanca Pastor could be the person behind the murder of his mother?
», Scolds Me Gérard Baudoux. The lawyer points to the accused: "
You are despicable
". Asked earlier about his role as organizer of the double assassination, Pascal Dauriac confirmed that Wojceich Janowski had entrusted him with an envelope of 140,000 euros to "
liquidate his mother-in-law
".
The former coach described to the jurors a meticulous conditioning: free trips, gifts, promises of a better life.
"
I joined the criminal project, this irrational thing," he continues.
Since then, I dissect every moment of my life to understand
”.
/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/FFCNWED6DVAEJEQJRTXDRUELJU.JPG)
