"
Completely obstructed
" trachea: the forensic pathologist described, Thursday at the Assizes in Tours, the suspicious circumstances of the death of a nonagenarian, suffocated by a madeleine in 2019, but doubts have arisen on the supposed financial motive of the accused, a former firefighter.
Read alsoTours: a former firefighter tried for the murder of a retiree using a madeleine
Yvette B., 92, resident of an Alzheimer unit in a Touraine nursing home, was found dead on May 13, 2019, in her bed, pieces of madeleine in her mouth.
The accused, now 63, had just visited him, bringing a package of industrial madeleines.
The motorcycle enthusiast had locked the bedroom door, a behavior that had raised questions among the nursing staff.
The former firefighter had contracted a life annuity in 1995 on a family home of the victim.
It is “
not possible to rule out the intervention of a third party
”
The day after a hearing which had pointed out flaws in the investigation and already instilled doubt, the hearing of the medical examiner enabled the Assize Court of Indre-et-Loire to discover the elements which had awakened the suspicions of the police.
In great detail, the medical examiner recounted the autopsy, the "
significant quantity
" of madeleine debris in the lungs and "
the mechanical obstruction of the trachea
".
He also mentioned the presence of a bruise on the level of the mouth and a small lesion on the neck.
It is “
not possible to rule out the intervention of a third party
”, argued the expert.
Elements compatible with a hand pressed on the mouth?, asks the president Aude Cristau.
“
Yes, Madam President
,” assures the doctor.
With a hand on your neck?
Same affirmative answer.
The pathologist then described a nonagenarian suffering from Alzheimer's disease since 2012, who weighed only 39 kilos and was no longer independent.
A fragile mobile
Did the former soldier have a financial interest in the assassination, he who wanted to embark on a new real estate project in the countryside as he approached retirement?
The investigators had oriented the instruction in this direction.
The hearings of the notary and the wife of the accused have cast new doubt.
The wife, visibly moved, assured that she had herself carried out the real estate searches, pointed out by the police, within the framework of a project “
on the long term
”.
No urgency, she insists: her husband still wanted to work "
one or two more years because he loved his job
" as a caretaker and handyman in a senior residence in Tours.
In addition, her husband “
loved this house very much
”.
"
He wouldn't have sold
it,” she testified.
The defendant's notary pointed out to him that the obstacles opposing the sale of the house as a life annuity did not seem prohibitive.
Not enough to constitute a possible motive for an assassination.
The defense lawyers, My Abed Bendjador father and son, pointed out the inconsistencies and approximations of the testimonies of the employees of the Ehpad where Yvette B lived. A caregiver thus admitted to having practiced the mortuary toilet, very quickly, at the request of the director, before the arrival of the doctor who came to certify the death.
“
The rule is to wait for the doctor to come, but here, it's true that we didn't wait.
(…) Indeed, it is too fast
, ”acknowledged the young woman.
The employees, most of whom no longer work in this Ehpad of the Korian group, however swore not to have covered a fault of the establishment or of one of them.
The verdict is expected Friday.
Alain J. faces life imprisonment.
