His former wife worked as a cleaner for the retiree. She then fired him, accusing the man of theft.
A 54-year-old man, a former boxer, was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Hérault Assize Court for the murder in 2021 of a septuagenarian woman discovered decapitated in Agde. “It is a verdict commensurate with the seriousness of the acts committed and the dangerousness of the accused”the lawyer for the victim's family, Me Nathalie Langlois-Thieffry, told AFP. But the conviction “will not bring back their mother and erase the terrible circumstances in which she died”insisted the lawyer.
The victim, a 77-year-old former teacher and mother of two children, was discovered at her home in October 2021, her head near the body. It was his son who raised the alarm, worrying about the lack of response to his phone calls.
“It’s hard because he confessed”
Judged “severe” by Me Anthony Caniez, lawyer for the accused, the life sentence is accompanied by a security sentence of 18 years. The day before, in front of the jurors, the accused finally confessed, after having denied the facts for three years, citing memory problems due to head trauma suffered during his boxing fights. “To the extent that he opened the door, I think it deserved a gesture”reacted Me Caniez. “It’s hard because he admitted, it took a lot of effort. He had been stuck for three years, leaning on this version that he had given throughout the investigation..
Aged 51 at the time of the murder, the accused was the former husband of the housekeeper of the murdered septuagenarian. He was notably identified thanks to numerous video surveillance images. In 2020, “the victim had fired this cleaning lady, suspecting her husband of having stolen money from her while he was doing odd jobs at her house”had specified the Béziers prosecutor, Raphaël Balland, at the time of the murder. The author of the murder had also been a candidate for the National Front in the 2014 municipal elections, in Hautmont, in the North, before being excluded from the party in 2015, sentenced to three months' suspended imprisonment and two years of deprivation of service. right of eligibility for fraudulent declaration or false certificate.
