the essential
The 37-year-old accused, tried by the Tarn Assize Court, was found guilty this Wednesday of the murder of his ex-partner Anne-Marie B., strangled on her birthday in September 2021 in Carmaux.
The verdict was delivered this Wednesday afternoon. At the end of two days of debate, the Tarn Assize Court declared Kévin B. guilty of spousal murder by a majority of at least 7 votes. Unsurprisingly, the accused himself admitted to having strangled his ex-partner, Anne-Marie B., on September 7, 2021 at the victim’s home in Carmaux.
“The difficult question that will arise is the choice of sentence,” explained Attorney General Cyril Padilla at the start of the morning, before requesting 25 years of criminal imprisonment with a 2/3 security sentence, as well as socio-judicial monitoring for 10 years including in particular an order for treatment and a ban on contact with the victim’s family.
“When we love, we don’t kill”
In his submissions, the representative of the public prosecutor dismantled the argument of crime of passion, “a disguise of violence against women”. “When we love, we don’t kill, it’s as simple as that.”
Like the lawyers of the civil parties, Mes Alary and Chefaroudi, who pleaded the day before honoring the memory of Anne-Marie B., Cyril Padilla praised the character of the former caregiver, “valiant and generous “, who was killed at the age of 62, on her birthday. And he also denounced the attitude of the accused, who “does not assume his responsibilities”. “At the very least, an ounce of questioning would have been welcome for this family,” said Mr. Chefaroudi.
Because if Kévin B., accompanied by his mother, reported himself to the gendarmerie on the evening of the murder, he repeated at the hearing that his act was not voluntary and was not really able to to explain it, partly blaming the attitude of the victim. “Regretting is one thing, facing your demons is another,” underlined Cyril Padilla, justifying his requisitions by the “criminological dangerousness” of the accused.
For the civil parties as for the attorney general, Kévin B. could not bear that the victim broke off their relationship a few weeks before the tragedy. The day of the murder, he came back to see her, bottles of alcohol in hand, to celebrate her birthday. Also in possession of the train ticket he had just bought, having to leave Carmaux a few days later to settle in with his brother in Lyon. “Why is he coming back? He doesn’t want to leave, he doesn’t want to be abandoned,” explains Cyril Padilla.
He and Anne-Marie B. are drunk. We will never know with certainty what exchange of words provoked the accused’s anger, but he threw himself at the victim, violently pinning her on the sofa before strangling her and blocking her airways until that death ensues. He will also cover his head with a plastic bag then wrap the body in a blanket.
“He has a future too”
In defense, Me Soulans returned at length in his pleading to the “chaotic” life course of the accused, now 37 years old. Abandoned at a young age by his parents, victim of “omnipresent” violence in his life, suffering from isolation and “brutal emotional ruptures, still misunderstood today”.
The lawyer said he was aware of the seriousness of the facts alleged against his client but drew the jurors’ attention to the “particular” human context of this case and appealed to their humanity, indicating that he did not understand the duration of incarceration requested by the Attorney General. “He has a future too. You can’t abandon him.”
After approximately three hours of deliberation, the Tarn Assize Court sentenced Kévin B. to a sentence of 20 years of criminal imprisonment, followed by a socio-judicial monitoring measure for 7 years including an injunction for treatment.
