Having "no doubt" about the total guilt of Théodore B., tried for having poisoned seven of his bosses, the Advocate General won the conviction of the jurors.
This Friday, after seven hours of deliberation, the former cleaner, a 63-year-old Sri Lankan tried since Monday by the Assize Court of Hauts-de-Seine, was sentenced to twelve years in prison.
He was tried at the assizes because one of the "poisonings", the administration of a harmful substance, was followed by death.
That of a woman with whom he worked, in Neuilly-sur-Seine, discovered drowned in her bathtub on April 29, 2010, after she had swallowed a large dose of sleeping pills.
The defense lawyers, Mes Julien Dreyfus and Ivanne Bouvier, insisted on the mild "epilepsy" from which the victim suffered to explain the fatal discomfort.
But the jurors sided with the thesis of the Advocate General, who had requested 15 years of imprisonment: Théodore B. is the only one to have entered the Neuilly apartment on the day of the tragedy and at his other bosses, he had access to all kinds of drugs.
He wanted peace
The former housekeeper was also responsible for six other “administrations of harmful substances”.
That of the husband of the deceased, who was never ill but in whose hair drugs were detected that he was not taking.
And especially that of the woman whom the widower met after the death of his wife, Mrs. L. who was the victim of several episodes of very disturbing mental confusion.
It was she who understood that Théodore B. could be responsible for it.
Her doubts proved to be justified: she discovered zolpidem (the active ingredient of Stilnox) in her belongings.
The cleaning man admitted to having poured sleeping pills into his coffee on several occasions, between 2015 and 2018, "to have peace".
According to him, Mrs. L. “overexploited” him.
"I'm sorry for Mrs. L.," Theodore B. repeated just before the jurors retired to deliberate.
For the other victims, in the first place for the deceased, the ex-cleaner denied.
Finally not always since, during the investigation, he had admitted to having administered drugs to one of his bosses.
The latter's cook told the bar that she had seen him pour the contents of a vial into a dish of lentils that she had prepared for the boss.
Théodore B. assured the hearing that it was “a conspiracy”.
The jurors didn't believe it.
As for the other victims, they did not feel any discomfort, did not file a complaint, but during the investigation, the analysis of their hair revealed the presence of anxiolytics and sleeping pills.
The muted anger of a denigrated man
If the trial convinced the jurors of the guilt of Théodore B., it will not have made it possible, on the other hand, to understand the real springs of his actions.
Speaking very little, especially since he does not speak French, withdrawn, the man is described by those close to him as a father, a husband and a present and devoted friend.
"Who can do no wrong," repeated several of them at the bar.
So why ?
The psychologist expert put forward the hypothesis of a “passive aggressive” personality who, “feeling denigrated” would have fed “a form of narcissistic anger”.
"These house people, we ask them to do the job but we don't want to see them", explained Me Julien Dreyfus otherwise.
Thus, Theodore B. could not (or no longer) bear to receive instructions, perhaps even more from women, he who saw his mother abandon the whole family when he was eight years old.
His father, devoted to the education of his children, became a model for Théodore B. “I wondered if he was replaying the relationship he had with his father with
Mr.
).
Relationship that he would have liked to privilege by dismissing the female figure, ”explained the psychologist at the helm.
Believing it "probable that Théodore B. resented his condition as a servant", the expert psychiatrist analyzes the "very atypical" acts of the cleaning man as an "all-powerful will".
Théodore B. has ten days to appeal.