Nordahl Lelandais repeated on Monday that he recognized "all the facts" with which he was accused at his trial for the murder of little Maëlys, which he categorically denied until Friday.
"I confirm my comments on Friday: I recognize all the facts that are alleged," he said at the start of the third and final week of his trial in Grenoble, at the request of President Valérie Blain.
The 38-year-old former soldier has been on trial since January 31 by the Isère Assize Court for the murder of the child at the end of 2017, preceded by kidnapping and kidnapping, as well as for sexual assaults against two little girls. -cousins aged 4 and 6 during the same summer.
Read alsoTrial of Nordahl Lelandais: "I voluntarily killed Maëlys, I recognize it"
The accused, on the other hand, denies any sexual motive with regard to Maëlys.
The qualification of rape had not been retained for the trial for lack of material evidence.
Until Friday evening, Nordahl Lelandais had always claimed to have killed the child involuntarily and repeated that she had gotten into her car of her own free will.
He had reiterated it again in great detail during a very long interrogation on the facts on Friday afternoon.
Five hours of interrogation on Friday
It was only when his lawyer Me Alain Jakubowicz questioned him, after five hours of interrogation, that he finally admitted to having abducted and "voluntarily" killed the little girl.
“I voluntarily killed Maëlys”, he had let go, energetically pushed by his advice.
The lawyers for the civil parties say they are convinced that he kidnapped the little girl to rape her.
The very degraded state of the body, found in a forest six months after the facts, did not make it possible to affirm or deny.
Read alsoMaëlys murder trial: when Colleen, the girl's big sister, challenges Nordahl Lelandais
It was exactly four years ago, on February 14, 2018, that the former dog handler, confused by the discovery of a trace of blood in his car, ended up confessing that he had killed the girl, after six months of silence and denials, and led the investigators to the heights of the Chartreuse massif where he got rid of the body.
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The heavy past of Nordahl Lelandais
The eleventh and twelfth days of the trial, Monday and Tuesday, are devoted to the hearing of expert psychologists and psychiatrists.
After the requisitions and the defense argument on Thursday, the verdict is expected on Friday.
The accused faces life imprisonment.
