The mother, the main suspect in this case, faces life imprisonment while her partner risks, for his part, thirty years in prison.
A terrifying story. On the fourth day of their trial before the Hérault Assize Court, Sandrine P. and her companion at the time Jean-Michel C., both accused for letting young Amandine starve to deathaged 13 at the time, spoke.
At the same time, the supervisor of the college where Amandine studied also appeared before the court. The latter relates a significant scene, which occurred in 2020 when Emmanuel Macron announced the closure of educational establishments before the establishment of the first confinement linked to the Covid epidemic.
At this announcement, Amandine broke down and told the supervisor: “I'm going to die, I'm not going to hold out.” A point which demonstrates that the young girl was aware of her fate at home during this period.
The mother herself was a beaten child
During her speech, Sandrine P. gave the first elements of her story. She describes being a little girl who was beaten and herself undernourished.
“There were three of us children, my mother complained about not having enough money. I was beaten. Slaps, slaps, humiliation. I was ashamed to talk about it,” she says.
And she adds, recalling her childhood in Portugal: “For lack of money, we went without for my little sister. The milk was for my little sister. We washed ourselves in cold water. We didn't 'had nothing in his stomach, or very little… No fridge, no TV.'
The president of the court read the personality investigator's report about Sandrine P. The picture is very dark: she is described as a violent, manipulative and lying woman. She would never have known how to position herself as a mother. In all, Sandrine had 8 children, including two who died: Amandine and a baby victim of sudden infant death syndrome.
-For his part, Jean-Michel C., who at the time of the events was a companion of Amandine's mother, spoke in tears from the box: “I would give my life for that of Amandine, so that she's still alive.”
Life for the mother?
On Wednesday, Amandine's sister and brother took the stand. Ambre, 19, shared a chilling testimony. She recounts the horrors suffered by her sister, to whom she was very close.
The young woman says that her little sister was naked in the house and that their mother prevented Amandine from having clothes so that she could not hide food in her pockets.
Amber heard him scream from the blows. The big sister explains, however, that she did not realize Amandine's extreme thinness. Their mother was blackmailing him: “If you do your lines (punishment, Editor’s note), you will have to eat,” reports Ambre.
While the verdict is expected on Friday, the suspect faces life imprisonment while her companion risks thirty years in prison. The sentence incurred by the father-in-law is explained by the fact that he witnessed violence and food deprivation for four years, while he was residing with Sandrine P. But he did not act, as he admitted him on the stand.
Mélanie Bertrand with Hugo Septier
