“After her death, it seemed as if there had never been an Amandine in this house”: the moving testimony of the sister of the young girl who died of starvation at 13

On August 6, 2020, the day of her death from a cardiac arrest in the family home in Montblanc (Hérault), near Béziers, the schoolgirl weighed only 28 kg for 1.55 m.

Tried since Monday in Montpellier for “acts of torture or barbarism leading to death without intention of causing it”, in particular for having voluntarily “starved” her, Sandrine Pissarra, 54 years old, denies having deprived his daughter of food and faces life imprisonment.

On the second day of her trial, the verdict of which is expected on Friday, she reaffirmed that she still did not understand “Why”or “what” her daughter was dead.

“What did you do to him?”

“Mr. Clerk, I will ask you to display the photos on the screen”the president of the Assize Court, Éric Emmanuelidis, then cuts it. On a large screen appears, in a silent courtroom, a class photo dating from the 2019 school year. “She’s your daughter. She doesn’t have a big smile, but she has a pretty face.”remarks the magistrate.

“And here is Amandine’s body as we found it on the second floor of your house”he continues. The young girl, lying on her back on the ground, then appears extremely thin. Standing in the dock, Sandrine Pissarra, long brown hair, remains silent.

Then photo No. 7 from the investigation file is displayed: a close-up of the schoolgirl's swollen face, sunken eye sockets, sunken cheeks, blood on the forehead, torn out hair, broken teeth. Éric Emmanuelidis insists: “What didn't you see, didn't you understand? She already had that face the day before, the days before… Did she deprive herself of eating?”.

“Yes, I think so.”replies Sandrine Pissarra.

“And she also broke her teeth on purpose. What did you do to her? It's time”pushes the president of the court. In vain. Sandrine Pissarra remains focused on the tortured face of her daughter, her features expressionless, and still says nothing. “Sit back down”ends up letting the magistrate go.

“It was hell on earth”

Questioned as a witness earlier in the morning, another of his daughters, Cassandra, now 28, said violence and food deprivation that she herself suffered during childhood, before Amandine became its main victim.

“It was hell on earth. Every day”specifies Cassandra, relays our colleagues from Free Midday. She explains that with the other children in the family, she got up at 5 a.m. to “do housework”, that everyone was slapped, hit and beaten with a broom.

She adds that their only way out was to arrive at the age of 18 and leave. That social services had been alerted but that their mother was asking them to lie. That she told them “that in a foster family, we risked being hit or raped”that it was choosing “between the plague and cholera”.

After the death of Amandine, “it seemed as if there had never been an Amandine in this house”she also remembered.