She received well "Tatie de Pompignac". On the table of her modest house in the northern countryside of Bordeaux (Gironde), those she welcomed often saw sweetbreads, langoustines, foie gras, champagne and other great wines. The Charente Assize Court in Angoulême has since Monday been appealing against his nephew Alain Laprie, suspected of having killed her in 2004 for a dispute related to his will. Because at her death, the 88-year-old lady owned more than 700,000 euros in cash, life insurance and real estate.
However, the old lady had not entered life with full pockets. Originally from Sarmede, in the Italian province of Treviso, Marie Dalcin arrived in France at the age of 18. She meets Bienvenue Cescon, an Italian too, and marries him quickly. She is 19 years old.
Lunches in the Balearic Islands
The young couple started their life in Goutz, north of Auch (Gers). He is a servant, she does housework. Then Marie and Bienvenue became housekeepers for a time in Arcachon (Gironde) and finally settled in Pompignac in 1947. In this town, still very rural at the time, the couple invested a few dollars in several agricultural lands. Over the years, these lands located less than 15 km from Bordeaux will become buildable and will gain in value, strengthening the couple's heritage to the tune of 550,000 euros at the time of the death of the octogenarian.
But there is still something missing for this couple on the road to prosperity. Marie cannot have children. Then those of their brothers and sisters become the object of their affection. "We often went to their place, they took us on vacation, even on a cruise," recalls a niece, smiling.
The Cescon couple love to travel. Another said: "They went around the world, they liked going to Russia, they were communists," he laughs. Sometimes they even took a plane in the morning at Bordeaux airport, just to have lunch in the Balearic Islands… ”
An old lady very surrounded
And then Bienvenue died in 1993. Marie Cescon remained alone in her house in Pompignac. The victim ages but remains very surrounded. "She was very sociable," testifies before the assizes of Charente in Angoulême Marie-Martine Pavy, the neighbor opposite, who has always lived in Pompignac. Marie regularly receives her family, her neighbors.
It is also one of them who programs the telephone with large keys placed near the directories in the dining room. In an emergency, the old lady with the short, silvery styling can easily dial three numbers: that of two neighbors and that of Alain Laprie, her favorite nephew, who comes to see her several times a week. After the death of the octogenarian and the fire of his house, this device will never be found.
Routine, the lady of Pompignac connects the days which are alike. She who needs the help of a cane to move forward, but remains in good health despite her age, cooks "even for herself", "walks in the vineyards or does her own garden", describe the neighbors. Still according to the latter, before nightfall, the octogenarian is in the habit of locking his portal with a key before settling down until late at night in front of the television programs which she will comment on the next day with her neighbors. The evening of his death, the gate was found wide open on the courtyard.
"She said to me: you stole my bank card"
Marie Cescon remains alert but, like people of her age, she begins to worry about her savings. In recent years, the Italian who rarely mince words has accused several members of her entourage of theft.
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Marie-Martine Pavy, the neighbor, who regularly ran errands for her, ended up getting into the habit of presenting her with the supermarket receipt. “She paid me on arrival, we avoided stories. Her husband did the same on Sunday when he brought him oysters. "A neighbor complained of having been called a thief," also reports Marie-Martine Pavy. She even made a "scandal at the hospital because she thought that her purse had been stolen from her," testifies Ernest Kies, another neighbor.
Even Alain Laprie, the "darling" of his aunt, his universal legatee since 1998, the one who has his bank powers of attorney and to whom she has signed several checks for several thousand euros in recent years, is suspected by the suspicious lady who counts his pennies.
At the end of spring 2003, Marie Cescon accuses her nephew of having stolen his credit card and using it on his bank account. "When she told me You stole my bank card , I left and I didn't give her news for eight days. It did not miss, it was she who called me back, said Tuesday February 18 at the helm Alain Laprie. The accused claims that he nevertheless maintained "excellent relations" with his aunt. "It means that she had remorse and that she knew she was wrong," defends the nephew, accused today of the murder of the octogenarian. At the end of his first trial in 2018, he was acquitted with the benefit of the doubt.
"Weren't you afraid that she would disinherit you?" "
But "it was not an argument, it was a dispute," corrects Alain Laprie at the helm, questioned by the lawyer. "You weren't afraid that she would disinherit you, were you ready to take this risk?" ", Questions the magistrate. "Absolutely," says the 64-year-old.
In July 2003, the Italian, who speaks but does not write French, dictates a new will to a neighbor and her daughter. The widow reshuffles the cards: on her death, her sister Rina, her nephew Jean-Claude and her nieces Janine, Joëlle and Claudine will touch the inheritance in equal parts. Alain Laprie is excluded.
The neighbors keep a copy, Marie puts hers in the telephone cabinet in her dining room. Without value because it is written by another, the document must be regularized in a notarial study thereafter. Which will never be done.
On March 17, 2004, around 11:00 p.m., Marie Cescon, 88, was found dead in her Pompignac kitchen. Face down, hair from the back of the head smeared with blood from a gaping wound and bloody clothing. A fire devours the back of his house, the buttons on the stove have been opened. The will has disappeared.
