The trial of a couple of marginalized people, accused of the murder preceded by acts of torture of a sixty-year-old found in September 2020 in Rennes in his partially burned-out home, opened this Monday before the Ille-et-Vilaine Assize Court.
On the night of September 18 to 19, 2020, firefighters responded to an apartment fire on the fourth floor of a building. A 63-year-old retiree lay lifeless there, his body bearing multiple traces of violence suffered before his death.
Trauma, stapled ears, burns…
The autopsy of the victim had identified numerous traumas to the face, the thorax, as well as traces of burns by a white-hot object. The sixty-year-old even had his ears stapled by his torturers, in order to extort his bank card code.
It was these “suspicious withdrawals” made with the victim’s card on the evening of the incident, and unsuccessful attempts the following day, which put investigators on the trail of a couple who had known the pensioner shortly before his death.
According to West France, this couple had spent the evening drinking at the victim’s house, whom they met at the end of the day in a grocery store. Neighbors had seen them arrive at the apartment with their dogs and then heard the sounds of an argument.
The couple faces life in prison
The man, now aged 36 and already convicted thirteen times, notably for theft or extortion, and the 42-year-old woman, with no criminal record, were arrested immediately.
In police custody, they admitted to having assaulted their host to steal his bank card and to having set fire to the apartment.
Both defendants face life imprisonment. The verdict is expected on Thursday, July 4.
