“I am sanguine by nature”
: accused of the murder of his partner, burned alive in 2020, Jonathan Boillet refuted Tuesday, on the first day of his trial in Saint-Omer (Pas-de-Calais), any link between his addictions and his outbursts of violence, despite testimony to the contrary.
Jonathan Boillet, 36, is on trial until Friday for the murder of Sandy Cucheval, burned alive at the age of 33 in a car on November 10, 2020, and died a week later at Lille hospital as a result of her injuries.
“It’s my fault, but I never wanted this to happen to him
,” he mutters with a strong accent, which regularly forces the court to ask him to repeat himself.
At the bar, he maintains the thesis of the accident, as since the beginning of the investigation: he tried to light a cigarette which set fire to a can of gasoline.
However, coming out of the car like
"a human torch"
, she repeated
"it's your fault"
, recalls a resident who saw the car burst into flames from her window.
Words that make some of the victim's relatives, present in the front row, collapse in tears - her mother, three of her children, her ex-partner.
Some of them wear t-shirts with the image of the victim, smiling, with her hair tied in a ponytail.
The victim wanted to leave him
To the police officers who arrived on site, Sandy Cucheval, who was seriously burned, pointed out Mr. Boillet, insisting to a policewoman:
“he doused me with gasoline and started the fire with a lighter
. ”
Mr. Boillet was never able to explain how the gasoline can present with them in the car could have accidentally opened and spilled on Mrs. Cucheval.
Mother of four children, the youngest of whom was then three and a half years old, she had been his partner for several months, and wanted to leave him.
The Pas-de-Calais Assize Court focused on understanding the personality of the accused on Tuesday.
Sexually assaulted and raped at the age of 8 by an uncle eight years his senior, he says he has since sunk into
“self-destruction”
: consumption of alcohol and drugs from the age of eleven, addictions to cannabis and cocaine.
The conviction of this uncle, in 2017, did not appease him: his life has been
“even worse”
since then, he says, punctuated by
“relapses”
with each weaning attempt.
The man was drunk on the day of the tragedy
During the day of November 10, 2020, he had consumed beers and vodka, he admitted in police custody.
However, it is not alcohol, he assures, which triggers his outbursts of violence, which have given him an already extensive criminal record, including four convictions for domestic violence and one for death threats.
“That’s a lot
,” notes the president soberly.
His outbursts of violence, Jonathan Boillet attributes to
“anything and everything”
, assures that they do not always occur under the influence of alcohol.
He was being monitored for “anxio-depressive”
disorders
at the time of the events.
“There are times, I have the impression that it is not me who controls myself
,” said the accused in a tone without relief, provoking discreet disapproval among the civil parties.
The accused's ex-partner, interviewed by the personality investigator, reported that alcohol and drugs
“made him lose control”
.
Also cited by the personality investigator, the mother of the accused recounts having seen him become angry as a teenager, and having tried to get him out of his addictions.
According to the indictment order, summarized by the president at the opening of the trial,
“Sandy Cucheval criticized Jonathan Boillet for his addictions, his threats and his insults”
.
On average, a feminicide occurs every three days in France.
The Ministry of Justice counted 94 femicides in 2023, a figure welcomed with caution by feminist associations.