"I want to be at peace with my conscience, ask for forgiveness and, therefore, Mr. Chairman, I will answer all your questions. This Tuesday morning, at the opening of the proceedings, the Bouches-du-Rhône assize court held its breath for a moment. The opening statement of Olivier Cappelaere, tried on appeal for poisonings he has always denied, in fact augured possible revelations ...
"Does this mean that you recognize? Asked the president, a touch of hope in his voice. But the magistrate's enthusiasm was quickly showered by yet another version of the accused on this April 7, 2015, when Suzanne Bailly and her friend Gabriel Marino Affaitati came close to death, in Le Cannet (Alpes-Maritimes). That day, the retiree had been taken to the emergency room in a delusional state, strapped to her bed, seizures and vomiting. An unexplained illness which took her for the third time in the space of a few weeks, and which the doctors had hitherto attributed to her great age…
When, on the evening of April 7, his friend Gabriel Marino Affaitati was in turn brought to the emergency room, the police were seized. She discovers that they have been poisoned by drinking from a bottle of water stuffed with atropine, a deadly drug in high doses. And that Suzanne Bailly had sold her apartment for life to a certain Olivier Cappelaere, whose company had just filed for bankruptcy.
"I was ashamed of what I had done"
Confused by the analysis of his telephony, his DNA traces, and the testimony of a neighbor, the man always admitted to having entered his tenant on the morning of April 7, on the pretext of taking photos of the apartment . He now admits to having "slipped" atropine into the bottle, not to kill her, but to "make her sick". Half-confessions which aim at a reclassification of the facts - the accused, sentenced to twenty years in prison last year, faces life imprisonment - but hardly seem to convince the president of the assizes…
"What was the purpose of the operation? Asked the latter. "I thought that would dissuade her from coming to Cannes in winter, that she would stay all year round at her home in Belfort (Haut-Rhin) and that thus I could more easily sell the apartment in an unoccupied life annuity. It was enough that I increase the amount of the annuity by 30% ”, explains today learnedly Olivier Cappelaere, a connoisseur who owned with his wife no less than five apartments purchased for life from old single ladies. If that was the case, why then not have said so earlier? "You have been interrogated a number of times ..." notes the president, skeptical. " Denial. I was ashamed of what I had done, and even to have thought about it, ”pleads Olivier Cappelaere.
Elegant in her tweed suit, impeccable brushing, Suzanne Bailly stands straight on her bench, her owner in the crosshairs. At 90, the retiree obviously does not let it count and even lets out a few indignant “oh”, nudging Gabriel Marino Affaitati on hearing that she would never have offered “even if only a cup of tea "to Olivier Cappelaere ..." I always came in his presence, and just a few minutes, except that day, "says the latter, denying the two previous poisonings. “February 10, March 21 and finally April 7, 2015, me Me Jean-Charles Darey, lawyer for Suzanne Bailly. Each time, it is a Tuesday, the day she goes to the hairdresser, or a Saturday, market day ... ”
Curious Internet Research
The accused is also reminded of his curious searches on the Internet, sometimes in private browsing: obituaries in the name of Suzanne Bailly, online pharmacy sites abroad ... Olivier Cappelaere has the answer. Atropine? “My dog had been treated with atropine eye drops for a year and I did not see any improvement, I wanted to inquire. »Potassium chloride - another potential poison? “To satisfy my curiosity, I had to read a press article on this subject. "
No will to kill, therefore - "I am not a murderer, not a murderer, not a psychopath", defends the accused - but "bad decisions" taken in a context of financial stampede, even as he was earning until then at 7000 euros per month… “We had the expenses to match our income, and there were the annuities to be paid. I was panicked, I lost my footing, ”repeats Olivier Cappelaere, in a lament that turns into self-pity.
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The President reminds, however, that in April 2015, at the time of the events, he just inherited a comfortable sum. Again, an old lady from Le Cannet, who made him her universal legatee: Jacqueline Imbert. "Don't say you had nothing!" He tances. According to Olivier Cappelaere, however, this heritage - almost 500,000 euros - would almost have been a burden. "I was torn between the legal representative, inheritance costs, worries with my business, I was in mourning for Jacqueline, the only person who understood me ... I lived 24 months of hell", loose l 'accused, tremolo in his voice. The president cuts short. "What died Jacqueline Imbert, your godmother at heart?" "I have always been told of a stroke. "And what did the analyzes reveal?" Insists the president. "Apparently she had atropine in the body ..." Olivier Cappelaere should be tried next year in this second case.
