“I said, forget it, she’s dead!” : the agony of Amandine, 13 years old, in the terrible family confinement of confinement

“I took off Amandine’s t-shirt, and I said to myself, oh yeah, that’s hot.” Hour after hour, the crescendo of horror continues at the Hérault Assize Court, where Sandrine Pissarra, 54, is being judged, accused of having starved until her death, on August 6, 2020 in Montblanc, his 13-year-old daughter. She faces life imprisonment for acts of torture and barbarity. His companion, Jean-Michel Cros, 49, faces 30 years for deprivation of care and food.

On your knees, on the picket, hair pulling

Ambre was 14 years old that summer day when the ordeal of Amandine, her younger sister, ended. With Ethan, then ten years old, they have also always suffered maternal sadism. “We received, but much less than Amandine”. Amber details, in a curiously cheerful voice.

“The punishments on my knees, on the stake, I suffered that. The hair pulling, that was fine for me. It was especially Amandine. Me, I was punished more for what I loved, horse riding, the telephone . Despite the beatings my mother gave us, we had everything we wanted, while Amandine didn't, it created jealousy.”
In 2020, Amandine took some distance, being an intern at Sigean college. The confinement of March 17 sends her back to hell.

In a storage room on a camp bed

“At first she slept with me on the second floor, then it was in the storage room, on a camp bed.” A dressing room cluttered with boxes and clothes, which will be equipped with cameras, the images of which arrive on the couple's phones, and where she will be reclusive and hungry.

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“It became a fight to the death between the mother and the child, and obviously, the child lost”: the martyrdom of Amandine judged in Montpellier

“Mom was much more aggressive during confinement. It was when Jean-Michel returned to work that the blows
are linked together.“Amandine has no leisure: “She had to copy lines, and otherwise she was on duty. Mom told her if you do 25 pages you might be able to eat tonight. I had to watch her when mom wasn't there, I helped her with the lines.”

All naked to avoid theft

Amandine also has to do the cleaning, “completely naked to avoid theft from snack cupboards and putting some in pockets.”
Ethan remembers: “My mother banged his head against the walls for a yes or a no”. Amandine comes out of her closet less and less.

“I passed him food under the door when my mother wasn’t there.” says his brother who now lives in a home. “In the end, my mother was still there, we were going about our lives and my sister was downstairs” says Amber. “My mother was doing her knitting in front of the TV and she was watching on her phone what Amandine was doing and if she was doing it well.”

She says incomprehensible things

On August 6, Ambre wakes up around noon. “I see Mom, a little panicked, telling me that Amandine is very unwell and at the same time Jean-Michel is helping Amandine to go up to the second floor. Mom told me to shower her.“Amber undresses her. “With the beatings she took, I knew very well that she had marks, but on the other hand the thinness I didn't really expect. She was talking to me, I didn't understand what she was saying. Mom said, we took her to the emergency room, and there she had convulsions and was foaming at the mouth. My mother called the fire department, I said, forget it, she's dead.”

28 kilos for 1.55 m

The jurors are livid, in a packed room with cathedral silence.
Amber weighed 28 kg for 1.55 m, and died of septicemia“a serious infection caused by a germ which kills within 48 hours in nearly 40% of cases, in immunocompromised or malnourished people” believes Professor Baccino, forensic doctor.
“As an entry orifice we could see the scratching lesions. We retain the hypothesis that we tried to renew it too quickly.” The pathologist describes the multiple bruises, abrasions and bedsores noted on his body. How long for such thinness?
“I don't know, but she was massively restricted on food for four weeks or more. She must have been barely conscious, when you're that malnourished there's a point where thinking stops working.”

The mother confirms her daughter's story

Sandrine Pissarra, who admitted half-heartedly on Tuesday evening after having denied it for so long, confirms e Amber's story. “And I want to thank her because despite her young age she said what really happened.”
Jean-Michel Cros, in tears, gets up and looks at the ceiling.
“I blame myself, I should have reacted, I’m sorry”. Long silence. “Every day I talk to him” He who closed his eyes so much seems to have had the idea of ​​giving Amandine a protein drink that morning, so that she could regain her strength. He realizes that this gesture finished off Amandine, who could still have been saved.
“I still love my mother, but not as much as before, and Jean-Michel is my real dad” insists Ethan, survivor of this toxic family. “It’s sad to say, but I will always love my mother” confirms Ambre, also emotionally devastated.
“Will you ever want to have children?” asks Me Darrigade, his mother's lawyer.“Ah no, no children, sorry but I can’t stand it!” she replies with a burst of laughter. Verdict Friday.