It is a case which is located "on the borders of humanity, or rather of inhumanity", summarizes a lawyer of the file.
So much so - an extremely rare occurrence - that psychological support has been provided for the jurors ... From Monday, October 26, the Deux-Sèvres Assize Court will examine the ordeal experienced by four men, put to death in atrocious conditions for futile or even non-existent reasons.
Their corpses were discovered in the spring and summer of 2016 in Niort, summarily buried in squats, some butchered.
Six homeless people - a seventh has since committed suicide - are thus judged for having contributed, in whole or in part, to these four murders.
For the first three, justice retained the aggravating circumstance of "acts of torture or barbarism in meeting", facts punishable by imprisonment for life, because of the unbearable story delivered by the authors themselves.
They recognized humiliations, rapes, and even mutilating certain bodies to feed their dogs.
The chilling testimony of "Bébert"
"Initially, the police did not even believe it", tells Me Lionel Béthune de Moro, lawyer of the accused who made it possible to put an end to these serial crimes.
On May 21, 2016, Gilbert Riso, said Bébert, a 59-year-old backpacker with a well-stocked locker, took refuge at the police station to tell how he had witnessed the murder of a man, killed with a shovel and a guitar, and whose body had then been used as a target for throwing knives… “He himself had just arrived in Niort, he hardly knew the other accused.
When he saw what they were able to do to their sleeve buddy, he thought he was next on the list and ran away, ”continues Me Béthune de Moro.
The next day, the police indeed discovered the decomposing body of Vincent Papet, stabbed with 70 stab wounds, lying in the bathtub of an apartment rented in the name of a certain Pascal Hardy, himself untraceable.
A month later, his dismembered corpse will be found in an abandoned lot, buried with that of another marginal: Malik Yazizaine, 19 years old.
Malik, tortured until he became unrecognizable
The last victim, Damien Porcher, a 37-year-old man under curatorship, will be discovered in the state of a skeleton in the cellar of his own building in mid-July.
The latter would have been killed for a banal quarrel of drunkards.
His torturers said that he asked to die "slowly": they made him drink a mixture of medicines and household product before wringing his neck.
Pascal Hardy had been suffocated with a cushion while his throat was pierced with a kitchen utensil.
As for Malik Yazizaine, he would have been sequestered for two weeks at Pascal Hardy's, subjected to the worst baseness, hit with slats of box spring, scalded, burned with an incandescent pan ... until the spectacle became so unbearable that his face was covered with a sheet.
"His head was completely deformed […] It looked like Yoda in
Star Wars
", will comment coldly Thierry Nicollas, known as "Titi", gang leader and pivot of all the murders.
"Titi", an "anti-social" with "considerable sadism"
Now 38 years old, designated as the “big boss” by the other accused, the man, alcoholic and poly-drug addict, is presented by experts as an “anti-social” with “considerable sadism”, moved by a “process of predation ”and a“ desire for submission ”.
"He is aware of the gravity of the facts, of this incredible violence, but the idea of a leader is convenient and everyone will have to answer for their actions", underlines his lawyer Me Guillaume Tilleau.
"The group effect has played to the full", also underlines Me Christian Blazy for Loan Malécot, 24, known as "the Brazilian" and right-hand man of Thierry Nicollas.
Involved in two murders - he recognizes only violence - Loïc Carabelos, 34, would have been a simple "executor", believes his lawyer, Me Lynda Sabilellah.
“He does not shy away from his responsibility, but we cannot ignore the ascendancy and fear exerted by Thierry Nicollas over a boy whose experts estimate the mental age at 6 and a half, all in a context of 'massive alcoholism', underlines the criminal lawyer.
The trial of extreme marginality
Both victims and executioners also had psychological weaknesses and experiences of violence in common.
“This can explain at one point the path that leads to the street, to a life whose codes are far removed from the dominant social norm.
This file must also be taken from this angle ”, underlines Me Tilleau.
Difficult to hear for the mother of Malik Yazizaine, represented by Me Isabelle Mallard.
“For her, they are not people, but soulless beings.
How can we conceive that, during the fifteen days that his son's agony lasted, not one had decided to stop?
That not a groan, not a plea, not a glance could bring them back to reality?
"
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The verdict is expected on November 10.
