Warning
This article includes descriptions of abuse and may be shocking.
Unpublished confessions. Accused of having starved to death Amandine, a 13-year-old teenager, her mother for the first time admitted the facts this Tuesday, January 21, on the second day of her trial before the Hérault assizes. On August 6, 2020, the day of her death from a cardiac arrest at the family home in Montblanc, near Béziers, the schoolgirl weighed only 28 kg for 1.55 m, a victim of “acts of torture or barbarity” for which his mother, Sandrine P., 54, has been on trial since Monday. Facts that she finally admitted, after denying it for four years. She faces life imprisonment, in a verdict expected this Friday at the latest.
It was the broadcast of an audio recording that caused such a turnaround. Before suspending the hearing this Tuesday evening, the president of the court, Eric Emmanuelidis, broadcast a sound, recorded in 2019 by neighbors. We can distinguish the voice of Sandrine P. and the cries, tears and sobs of Amandine: “Ouch, ouch, stop, not that, I’m hurting…”. An exchange then follows between the president and the accused.
– Madam, do you recognize the violence committed against Amandine between 2014 and March 17, 2020?
– Oui.
– As well as the acts of torture and barbarity committed between March 17 and August, in particular the humiliations of having confined her in a room for weeks, of having starved her?
– Yes, I admit.
Until then confined to coldness, the mother suddenly begins to cry. “This is the first time I’ve seen you cry,” then reports the magistrate. In the process, his companion, Jean-Michel C., 49 years old, who faces 30 years of imprisonment for having “deprived of care or food” his daughter-in-law also admits the facts. “I have enormous guilt over this,” he admits.
“Family totalitarianism”
Questioned at length as a witness this Tuesday, before these sudden confessions, another of his daughters, Cassandra, 28, had recounted the violence and food deprivation suffered during childhood. “One day my mother cut my head open with a broom handle,” remembers the young woman, who had never dared to denounce these facts. “No one could save us, we could only wait until we were 18 to take flight and hope that those who remained survived.” What you describe, “it’s family totalitarianism”, the president of the court points out to him, evoking the atmosphere created by the mother of eight children, of three different fathers, owner of a nail salon.
-Heard after him, his brother Jérémy, 29 years old, also describes the violence he endured until he left home, at 18 years old. For having brought down “a large ceramic pot”, his mother strangles him. Then, for the meal, “I was served a flageolet on my plate, it was humiliating”, he said, assuring that his mother already had it “threatened with death”. Another time, he and Cassandra had to kneel for hours on a wooden ruler, holding a dictionary at arm's length above their heads. The young man then turns to his mother: “Recognize that you are just a criminal. Take responsibility!” he asks her, recalling that Amandine had become her mother's scapegoat from a very young age.
“What did you do to him?”
At this time of the day, the fifty-year-old still claimed not to understand “what” her daughter is dead. The president of the court then releases photos. The first dates from the start of the 2019 school year. “She’s your daughter. She doesn't have a big smile, but she has a pretty face. underlines the magistrate. “And here is Amandine’s body as we found her, on the second floor of your house,” lying on her back on the ground, extremely emaciated. Then a close-up of his face is shown, swollen, sunken eye sockets, sunken cheeks, blood on his forehead, hair torn out, teeth broken.
The magistrate questions her.
– What did you not see or understand? Did she deprive herself of eating?
– Yes, I think so.
– What did you do to him? It's time.
In vain. Sandrine P. remains focused on the tortured face of her daughter and still says nothing. Eight hours later, after Cassandra and Jérémy's testimonies and the broadcast of the neighbors' audio recording, she finally speaks. A unique opportunity to try to understand why, and how, she could get there. Sandrine P. and Jean-Michel C. will again have the opportunity to speak before the verdict, expected on Friday.
