Thirteen years after Mathis’ disappearance, Sylvain Jouanneau was indicted for the murder of his son. The father appealed the pre-trial detention order. The investigating chamber of the Caen Court of Appeal finally decided to maintain it, which changes its prison regime, particularly in terms of visiting rooms.
Sylvain Jouanneau did not bring his son back after his weekend of care on September 4, 2011. The last people to see the child alive were his grandparents two days earlier. Sylvain Jouanneau was found alone three months later, wandering on the way to Compostela, near Avignon. Walled since then in his silence, he never wanted to say what he did with Mathissimply indicating that he had entrusted it to third parties abroad.
In June 2015, he was sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment by the Calvados Assize Court for kidnapping and sequestration. The investigation into intentional homicide continued.
A trace of DNA found in the trunk of Mathis’ father’s car
New analyzes have since been carried out as part of judicial information. They made it possible to find a DNA that could be that of Mathis. DNA discovered in the trunk of the father’s car, on the underside of the floor mat.
This car is the 206 which was found a few days after the disappearance of Mathis, near Bayonne in the Pyrenees Atlantiques. It was parked on the banks of the Adour in the Naguilé district of Lahonce. Investigators from the Bayonne judicial police research section and those from Caen then collaborated to shed light on the presence of this vehicle in the Basque Country. The banks of the river had been searched to try to find the child’s body. In vain.
A new terrible ordeal for Mathis’ mother
Sylvain Jouanneau was not present before the investigating chamber of the Caen Court of Appeal on Tuesday. He refused to be removed from the Ifs-Caen remand center where he has been detained since his indictment. Mathis’ mother, Nathalie Barré, however, attended the hearingshe who has been fighting for 13 years to find her son alive.
The Advocate General addressed her : “Sorry for these words, but it is obvious that Mathis is dead. And Sylvain Jouanneau must not be released. It is unthinkable to be able to somehow let him make Mathis’ remains disappear a second time“. Nathalie Barré came out stunned, silent, letting his lawyer Aline Lebret speak. “It’s difficult, but she knows since the 2015 trial that the investigations are focused on a child who is dead and not missing.“.
The investigating chamber of the Caen Court of Appeal finally decided to maintain Sylvain Jouanneau in pre-trial detention. The latter is eligible for release in 2028, but will now serve his sentence under a new prison regime, during the judicial investigation.
