the essential
In September 2021, in Toulouse during yet another very alcoholic night, Jerry Bilou beat up Willimelle, his partner. This mother of three did not survive. Immersion in a lost world in front of the Haute-Garonne Assize Court.
His smiling gaze during a short suspension quickly turns black. Dark as his memories, the Haute-Garonne criminal court begins to shake. From Koumak where Jerry Bilou grew up under the protection of his grandparents, to Nouméa, the capital of his island. Where this boy had his first jobs in bars, experienced his first love with Andrea, saw the birth of his first two children.
A happy, peaceful life. “Without violence,” specifies the accused, now 34 years old. Only when he met Willimelle, a friend of one of his sisters, Jerry thought of the Metropolis, of another life. “I wanted to prove to my grandfather that I could live without his support,” confides this Kanak under the gaze of the jurors, three women and three men. In 2019, he joined the young woman in Toulouse.
A long hour of torture
In the courtroom, motionless in their seats, the victim’s relatives do not flinch. They came from New Caledonia to try to understand. President Dominique Coquizart, patient with a hopelessly impaired sound system, pushes the man in the box to tell his personal story. From the sunny tranquility of New Caledonia to the large buildings of Mirail in Toulouse. It was there, on the night of September 18 to 19, 2021, that two lives changed.
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“I would give everything I have for her to come back,” confides Jerry, his voice marked. He adds, looking at the family: “Never, never did I want to kill her.” Only Willimelle’s face was distorted by the blows, “the liver, the spleen, the rib cage were marked by the violence”, warns the investigator who led the investigations. The young woman did not wake up on the morning of September 19, 2021. Her companion tried to massage her ribcage, putting her under a hot shower without obtaining the slightest result. Willimelle Poulawa, 23 years old, mother of three children, never opened her eyes.
Could she have been saved? The question weighs on the Assize Court. Because the police, alerted at 11:15 p.m. by a distraught neighbor, never came. Heard during the investigations, this woman spoke of “an endless scene. Beatings and more beatings. According to her, for an hour between 11 p.m. and midnight”, specifies the investigator.
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And that evening, on rue Aristide-Maillol, there was also Wacoco, 31 years old. Justice accuses him of failing to assist a person in danger. This serious soldier, native of Nouméa, spent his weekends drinking with his friends. He knew Jerry and Willimelle. On Saturday September 18, 2021, he drank a lot with them. He witnessed the violence. He left to continue his 48 hours of celebration. When he returned, worried, the next morning, he encountered the police. Willimelle had already died several hours ago.
The hearing continues this Thursday. The verdict is expected on Friday.
