Judged for the murder of her impotent mother-in-law and for the attempted murder of her husband suffering from dementia, Danièle Careddu, 66, wants to convince the Assize Court of Bouches-du-Rhône that she was "
at the end of
and acted to end "
one hell
."
Read alsoBouches-du-Rhône: a woman kills her mother-in-law and stabs her husband
On the night of June 2 to 3, 2018 in the family home of Allauch, near Marseille, when firefighters discovered the lifeless body of Paulette Dufossé, 85, stabbed 47 times and with her throat slit on her bed, as well as her son Marc, 58, injured with a dozen stab wounds, Danièle Careddu, married to Marc, admits that she swallowed "
half a bottle of whiskey to [se] give courage
".
To the rescuers, her hair full of blood, she shouts: “
Let him die!
I want him dead, don't save him!
», Reads the president at the hearing.
A firefighter who intervened at the crime scene, confirms and adds to the bar that "
she seemed to be at the end of her life psychologically
".
Parading in the witness box, relatives, neighbors and friends paint the portrait of a "
saint
", a "
kind woman
", who has exhausted herself in helping her husband suffering from Korsakoff syndrome, a dementia due to her alcoholism, and an impotent mother-in-law to whom she had made a promise never to place her in a retirement home.
"
It's dramatic, she has not been helped too much by the medical
community," laments Martine, a friend of twenty-five years.
Two days before the tragedy, she had seen "
the house upside down
", the walls of the apartment once again soiled with excrement by her husband.
“
As usual, until 2 a.m., she spent everything at the
“says this woman.
"Big mess"
Brigitte, a neighbor, deplores “
a big mess
”.
Like many, she especially expected that “
Danièle put an end to her life
”.
"
Maybe she didn't do everything right, but you have to experience the situations to understand them
," she told the jurors.
Incarcerated since the events, Danièle Careddu had not convinced the examining magistrate of the reasons for her "
insane stroke
".
For the magistrate, “
her primary concern was to keep control of the heritage
” of her mother-in-law.
This money motive is disputed by Romain Dufossé, the couple's son, who explains that his grandmother "
agreed
" for the use of his bank account.
Facing the jurors, Romain Dufossé, 37, spoke of “
an adored, exemplary grandmother
”, but who has recently become “
mean, hateful towards [his] mother.
She called her a slut, a bitch
.
He puts the responsibility for this tragedy on his father and his alcoholism which "
messed up the whole family
".
Asked about the criminal act of his mother, his son, who is a civil party, confides that he “
does not forgive.
But if she got there, it was because she had no escape, I understand that she lost it
.
Marc Dufossé, regularly admitted to psychiatry
The prosecution will seek to convince that Danièle Careddu did not go looking for and even refused help from doctors and social services.
“
She could not bear the burden she had imposed on herself, but she was not alone, without a proposal for help
,” said Advocate General Sophie Bot.
Her psychiatrist had offered to write a waiver allowing her husband to be permanently placed in an Ehpad, despite his young age to be admitted there.
Marc Dufossé, unanimously portrayed as "
unmanageable
", was regularly admitted to a psychiatric environment from which he constantly ran away.
"
We were told that he was not crazy enough to go to psychiatry and too crazy to keep him in an Ehpad
", indicated his ex-daughter-in-law, deploring that "
there are no establishments in France for people like him
.
The verdict is expected Wednesday, February 9, in the evening.
