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On the occasion of the first day of the hearing at the Dordogne Assize Court, Tuesday November 12, the forensic doctor returned to the causes of the death of Jean-Yves Di Pasquale, caused by the blow of a blunt object, here a hammer, at the temple.
The body of Jean-Yves Di Pasquale, discovered lifeless at his home in Cours Tourny, in Périgueux, on April 12, 2021, was autopsied two days later at the Bordeaux hospital center. Doctor Julien Comte, forensic pathologist, returned to the autopsy of the fifty-year-old during the first day of the hearing. The scan indicated a fracture of the skull and a vertebra. Lesions on the right temple of two centimeters, as well as behind the left ear of more than three centimeters, were also discovered. “Several fractures occurred at the right temple,” indicates the medical examiner. After opening the skull, we noticed a significant hemorrhage which caused death. »
Rapid loss of consciousness
During the medical examiner's report, images of the victim were shown on screens in the courtroom. “Finally, the injury on the right temple is very discreet, but it was in the right place to cause the fracture, the significant bleeding and the death,” confirms the forensic doctor. For the latter, given the body temperature and its rigidity, death occurred between 24 and 6 hours before its discovery. “To succeed in causing a fracture of the skull, the blow was violent,” adds Doctor Julien Comte. The loss of consciousness was very rapid and even immediate at the time of the blow. »
Two days after the body was found, officers checked the building's trash and found a hammer that was not in a bag. Traces of blood were found on it, but their origin could not be confirmed, while the accused's DNA was identified on the handle. He said it came from using the hammer earlier in the week to hang a painting.
