The investigating chamber of the Poitiers Court of Appeal reversed the decision of the judge of freedoms by ordering the release of Enzo Challat, one of the suspects in the assassination on the night of November 25 to 26, 2022, of Leslie Hoorelbeke and Kevin Trompat after an evening spent in a house in Prahecq, near Niort.
These young lovers, aged 22 and 20 respectively, were killed with hammers and shovels, according to the suspects' own explanations.
Their bodies were found in Charente-Maritime after three months of investigation.
This decision comes after Enzo Challat, 23, had just requested, a year after his placement in pre-trial detention, his release.
This was refused a few days ago by the judge of freedoms and detention of Poitiers.
He is one of four indicted for murder, alteration of a crime scene and concealment of a corpse in this case.
According to this information from the Nouvelle République which was confirmed to Le Parisien, Enzo Challat was released under judicial supervision this Tuesday, March 5.
The court ruled out all the risks (consultation between co-defendants, pressure on witnesses, non-representation, etc.) retained at first instance by the judge of freedoms and detention.
Also read “Carnage”: the secret story behind the deaths of Leslie and Kevin
His lawyer, Maître Jérôme Goudard, affirmed that his client denies having participated in the assassination of the young couple.
According to the explanations given by Enzo Challat to the investigating magistrate and the investigators, confirmed by the statements of the other suspects involved, this young man from Surgères (Charente-Maritime) would in fact have remained outside the house during the simultaneous attacks by Leslie and Kevin, probably in a lookout role.
The bodies of the two young people were then loaded into the trunk of his car and then transported to the Poitevin marshes in the town of Coulon (Deux-Sèvres).
During this trip and again according to the convergent explanations of the suspects, Tom Trouillet was at the wheel while Enzo Challat had taken a seat in the back of the car.
A reconstitution during 2024
“It is always a satisfaction when the law triumphs,” Mr. Goudard tells us.
Enzo Challat did not represent any risk for the proper conduct of the investigation.
The investigating chamber strictly applied the case law of the Court of Cassation.”
Another of the five suspects, Stevan M., considered the “cleaner” of the crime scene, was also released at the beginning of January after his charges were reclassified as “concealment of a corpse” and “alteration of crime scene”, two offenses, and no longer for “kidnapping and sequestration” since he was not on the scene at the time of the events.
Three other suspects remain in pre-trial detention and indicted for murder, kidnapping and kidnapping and alteration of a crime scene, including Tom Trouillet, a friend of the two victims, who was staying with the couple on the evening of the tragedy.
If the motives of the accused remain unclear for the moment, between “sentimental disappointment and/or financial debts”, according to the public prosecutor in Poitiers, Cyril Lacombe, a reconstitution should take place during the year 2024 , perhaps in October or November.