An unconscious woman lying on the ground with her eyes open.
A wicker bag with contents scattered around the parking lot.
Various debris, traces of oils, tires and even blood on a building.
This is the crime scene that the police discovered on the morning of July 25, 2019 in Vénissieux (Rhône).
Tear ?
A black SUV, found with the hood down, the bumper scratched and the cooling radiator leaking ...
The driver of this vehicle, accused of murder on a spouse, must appear from Thursday morning before the Rhône Assize Court in Lyon.
Detained since the facts, Gilou R., a 46-year-old truck driver, denied during the investigation that he wanted to kill his wife Bernadette, whom he nevertheless struck and crushed while driving his car.
A tragedy all the more revolting for the relatives of the victim as this husband was under judicial control following domestic violence, with a ban from coming into contact with his wife and from going to their home in Villeurbanne.
According to the psychiatrist expert, the accused "did not support, from a narcissistic point of view, the separation".
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Bernadette's life changed in two minutes, as this 43-year-old woman of Madagascan origin, like her husband, arrived at work with her two sisters-in-law.
Her employer's cameras captured the entire scene.
At 7.14 am, a black vehicle walks towards this order picker and throws her against the wall.
In a desperate gesture, Bernadette extends an arm towards the hood of the vehicle which strikes her violently almost head-on.
At 7:16 a.m., the SUV left the scene.
In the meantime, its driver repeatedly rolled over the victim on the ground, even getting out of his car to approach her and talk to her or point the finger at her.
"He left him no chance"
"For me, he left him no chance," said a witness to this scene of very great violence. Victim of multiple trauma, Bernadette died "shortly" according to the autopsy report. Based on the use of video surveillance images, and on the account of eyewitnesses, the investigating judge considered that the homicidal intention was sufficiently characterized. In front of her, Gilou R. however assured that he did not wish, this July 25, the death of his wife, but simply to speak with the one who had decided to leave him.
"I was unconscious [...] I did not know what I was doing", qualify the indicted who announced having killed his wife to his brother-in-law where he was staying.
In his defense, the man indicated that Bernadette reluctantly consented to sexual relations, also denouncing physical violence without providing the slightest proof.
Finally, he claimed that this woman "made him suffer from the beginning" and that she would have married him in 2014 only for papers.
Shortly before he had tried to strangle her
The accused is portrayed quite differently by relatives of the victim. According to one of her friends, Bernadette was thus under the influence of a very jealous husband, who insulted her and dictated her life to her. Bernadette allegedly told her that Gilou hit her and forced her to have sex. She was "paralyzed" by this husband, and even more since this traumatic episode that occurred on July 7, 2019 when he grabbed a knife and tried to strangle her.
“An attempted murder reclassified as simple violence. Admittedly, there was a quick response with the judicial control, but which in no way prevented him from going in front of his wife or the friend who hosted him. In reality, this measure did not measure up to the facts. Above all, the dangerousness of this man, already violent with his previous wife, has not been assessed ”, deplores Me Isabelle Steyer, lawyer for relatives of the victim, civil parties.
For this domestic violence, Gilou R. was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment in October 2019. This time, he faces life imprisonment. “He is anxious as his trial approaches but is also anxious to be able to explain himself. What is certain is that by leaving for Vénissieux that morning, he had no intention of killing his wife, ”underlines Me Stéphanie Rogeron, the lawyer for the accused. The court and the jurors have two days to examine this feminicide which occurred "only eighteen days after the placement under judicial control of this violent spouse", still regrets Me Steyer.
