“You can say whatever you want about me, but I'm not a rapist.
I have never raped anyone.
Before the jury of the Assize Court of Haute-Garonne withdraws to deliberate this Wednesday, Alexandre Bresse, remained almost impassive throughout the day, took the floor one last time to let go of these few words.
Words that did not convince the jurors.
The 22-year-old young man, tried in particular for the rape and murder of Alicia, a 14-year-old teenager, in April 2018, was indeed found guilty of all the charges against him.
Motionless, his eyes riveted on the ground during the statement of the verdict, Alexandre Bresse was sentenced to 30 years of criminal imprisonment, accompanied by a socio-judicial follow-up of 7 years.
Already convicted in 2016 for sexual assault and exhibition, he was in a state of legal recidivism.
A sentence experienced as a release for the family of the victim, who burst into tears when the verdict was announced.
Mélodie Camilleri, Alicia's mother, who did not attend the whole trial "for fear of relapse", said she was relieved.
“It's good that everything is recognized.
This will not return my daughter to me, but justice is done, ”she declared at the end of the hearing, hoping to be able to move forward.
Even appeasement on the side of the father, Gilles Gayral, “after two years of waiting and pain, and three days of uncertainty.
He won't be able to hurt anyone anymore.
"For his lawyer Maître Bruno Merle, who hoped for" a severe sentence in the absence of mitigating circumstances ", justice has done its job.
"A split personality"
The judgment approaches the requisitions of the Advocate General, Céline Fleury, who had asked for 25 to 30 years of criminal imprisonment, accompanied by a safety period of 15 years and a socio-judicial follow-up of 10 years, fearing "a new act ”.
During her intervention, she pointed to the “split personality” of the accused, his judicial past, his lack of awareness and the “sexual sociopathy” noted by psychiatric experts.
Aged 19 at the time of the facts, Alexandre Bresse was also on trial for sexual assault on another young girl a few months earlier.
In a presentation of more than an hour, his lawyer, Muriel Amar-Touboul, had nevertheless hammered, at the resumption of the hearing in the early afternoon, the absence of evidence concerning the rape.
“I do not understand that he is criticized for not recognizing these acts.
It's unbearable.
He never changed his version, which is that of a consensual relationship and a sex game gone bad.
And if there is no rape, what interest does he have in killing her?
“, She asked during her plea.
She asked for an acquittal for all the facts while acknowledging "the horror of the acts which followed this accident".
Alicia had indeed been found in the trunk of a bed, unconscious, a T-shirt buried deep in her mouth.
"A stupid attempt to make up the scene, under the influence of panic", according to Master Amar-Touboul, who had asked the jurors "not to give in to the dictatorship of emotion".
Indisputable facts for the victim's lawyers
In the morning, the civil party lawyers had put forward indisputable facts and painted the portrait of a young man with deviant sexuality who had not controlled his strength.
“He dislocated her shoulder.
She had bruises on her head.
Add to that the strangulation.
How can he say it was a consensual relationship?
», Recalled Maître Jean-Baptiste Alary, one of the lawyers.
He had also underlined the thoughtful and methodical side of Alexandre Bresse in his attempt at concealment.
"What would have happened if we hadn't found the body?"
“, Asked Master Bories, the lawyer for the maternal family.
Questions that never made Alexandre Bresse react.
