“Justice for Julie.
The fine, tanned face of Julie Douib appears on the gates of the courthouse in Bastia (Haute-Corse).
This Thursday morning the trial of Bruno Garcia-Cruciani, 44, accused of having shot dead in Ile-Rousse in March 2019 Julie Douib, 34, his ex-partner, the mother of his two, opened to the assizes. little boys.
A drama inscribed in a tense context of separation and domestic violence that she denounced to the authorities for several years.
The young woman with hazel eyes has become, despite herself, a symbol of the fight against violence against women. For five days, Bruno Garcia-Cruciani, who denies premeditation, is tried for the murder of his ex-partner.
After 13 years of living together, Bruno Garcia-Cruciani and Julie Douib separate at the end of September 2018. The first invokes the infidelities of his partner.
Julie, she complains of physical and psychological violence that she has been denouncing for several months to neighbors, friends and even the authorities.
When reading the facts, the president confines herself to citing "several complaints and handrails", some filed by relatives of Julie for death threats.
In the courtroom, Lucien and Violette, the parents of the young woman, listen concentrated to the account of the facts.
Their fingers are knotted, united in the face of their daughter's ordeal.
To read also Death of Julie Douib: "If the murderer of my daughter does not get life imprisonment, I will have difficulty understanding"
Julie Douib seems to be taking matters into her own hands. From the summer of 2018, the young mother records files on her computer: 37 photos of her with bruises, of her broken phone and recordings of “scenes of arguments”.
In January 2019, Bruno Garcia-Cruciani obtained custody of the two little boys, Julie Douib, a visitation right.
But this first decision of the family court judge does not seem to alter the hold that the accused was trying to impose on his ex-girlfriend.
“She felt followed.
She was followed ”, testifies at the bar an investigator of the research brigade of Calvi.
The day before her murder, the young woman complains again during a meeting at the cinema: once again, she sees her ex prowling around his residence in his white Berlingo Citroën.
There where, in building B of the Résidence de la Mer, on the right second floor of this small 80s-style building, Julie Douib settled after the separation.
Refugee in a parking lot
Witnesses will even say that they saw the forties "hidden in the bushes" of the residence. To the point of forcing Julie to take refuge three times in a parking lot in downtown Ile-Rousse. "She rushes into the parking lot of La Poste, she does not turn on a flashing light, she turns suddenly", describes the investigator who analyzed the video surveillance.
The same evening, the accused exhibited a weapon and his silencer in front of his children, according to their testimonies.
The father fires two shots in his garden.
On the morning of March 3, 2019, Bruno Garcia-Cruciani suddenly left his home, to go, he said, to the shooting range where he had been used until the fall of 2018. He took the handgun and the quiet.
But, shortly after 11 o'clock, he shows up at Julie's door.
A first shot at close range, in the children's room.
Julie runs to her balcony.
Two more shots.
Bruno Garcia-Cruciani leaves the scene.
In the small 3-room apartment of the residence, a neighbor follows the traces of blood and finds Julie Douib lying on her back, seriously injured in the abdomen.
"He killed me," she whispered before dying a few minutes later.
At the same time, Bruno Garcia Cruciani presented himself to the Ile-Rousse gendarmerie, accompanied by his brother-in-law and a friend.
"Take me to the gendarmerie, I did something stupid," the suspect allegedly launched to his relatives.
In his hands, a shoebox contains the weapon and its magazine.
The silencer and cartridges remained in the apartment.
In his history, "attempted murder", "to go and live in Thailand"
Did the accused intend to attack the mother of his children that morning?
In any case, this is what the investigating judge retained in his order of indictment, which referred him to the Assize Court of Haute-Corse for murder.
He denies any premeditation.
He “never disputed that he was the author of the shots.
(…) He remembers two shots, but no other shots, ”notes the magistrate.
Why does he type in a search engine the words “sentence for homicide with a weapon”, “attempted murder” or “criminal lawyer” two days before the event?
Why in February does he search the Internet for information on "moving to Thailand" or "settling there"?
Why does he bring his sister and his brother-in-law from Toulon a few days before the homicide?
In the box, the accused confirms that he did not intend to kill his ex-girlfriend. If he took out his gun at her house, it was to "impress" her. “You shot once in the children's room without being sure you had hit it. Afterwards, on the balcony, is it possible you say that you fired a second time, you always mentioned a black hole? »Asks the president. Close-shaven head, black t-shirt, Bruno Garcia Cruciani wrinkles his forehead and nods. He faces life imprisonment.
