They remained united. In the large courtroom of the Saint-Brieuc judicial court, both sit side by side, near their children. During breaks, they can be seen holding each other's arms while waiting for their lawyers. The affair she maintained for seven months with another retired farmer from the Loudéac region did not get the better of their marriage. The gunshots that this lover would have voluntarily fired at her husband, in July and August 2021, neither. This Tuesday, November 5, 2024, the mother took her courage in both hands to come and deliver her story before the Côtes-d'Armor Assize Court.
He became more and more insistent and I preferred to stop. Doing that wasn't me. But he started calling me again and again
In front of the jury, the septuagenarian picks up the thread of the story. 2020, Covid, the lack of social and family ties and then “the boredom that sets in”. It is in this context that his story with Gilbert Ruelland was born. She knows him from the Breton dance class at Le Cambout: that’s where he seduced her. “The last day before confinement, he gave me his number,” says the ex-farmer. From exchange to exchange, the friendship changes direction and the meetings will continue until March 2021. “He asked me where and when I was going to do my shopping, he became more and more insistent and I preferred to stop, she says. Doing that wasn't me. But he started calling me again and again. »
“It’s just a scratch”
Then came the threats. “He said he would come to my house and tell my husband everything,” she continues. So I continued to see him, he took me to his hangar. » Everything stops when her husband is shot for the first time, in July 2021. “I explain that I no longer want to see him, that I am unhappy for my man and that I have enough problems as it is” , she continues. He retorts that “it’s just a scratch.” She then tells him of her suspicions concerning him. “I’m not a hunter and I don’t have a weapon!” », replies the lover. In August, the husband was shot again. And the more time passes, the more the lover asks questions about the investigation.
The wife explains that she hid her relationship from investigators out of “shame”. “I didn’t see the connection with what had happened to my husband,” she said. It is by analyzing his telephone line that the military will understand who Gilbert Ruelland is and his motive, before confusing him using his DNA. He will be incarcerated in February 2022. This is where the story will come to light. She will learn that she was not the only mistress; her husband, that he was deceived and that this adultery undoubtedly led to the two bullets which passed through his body. “He wanted to kill my husband to get me back,” says his wife on the stand. Before apologizing to him and their entire family.
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