The teenager suspected of the murder of little Rose, five years old, last year in Rambervillers (Vosges), delivered during the first day of his trial behind closed doors in Epinal some “explanations” on the facts, three months later a conviction for rape and sexual assault in another case.
On Tuesday, the municipal police officers, the director of investigation, and services following the accused teenager testified before the court. If at the lunch break he had not yet spoken, he was able to provide some “explanations” by answering the questions asked to him in the afternoon.
What the little girl’s parents expect from this trial is “really getting the truth” about the “22 minutes” Rose was in the apartment with the accused, declared Tuesday morning one of their lawyers, Stéphane Giuranna.
“We suspected it, it was extremely hard for (Rose’s parents). The father left the room at one point, the mother showed a lot of emotion, it was very hard” for them, declared David Collot, another lawyer for the civil party. “They were still able to hear progress on the explanations” of the accused, he continued.
In particular, as during the investigation, he recognized the materiality of the facts, “having wanted to kill Rose and having killed her”, explained Me Collot. But “today, what comes on top of that are some explanations about perhaps sexual motives which would have pushed him to commit these acts.”
– Head underwater –
On April 25, 2023, less than an hour after Rose’s disappearance was reported by her parents, her body was discovered naked in a garbage bag, in an apartment in this town of 5,000 inhabitants.
The teenager, aged 16 today, admitted to having lured the girl to his home, claiming that he was going to show her a kitten.
He admitted, during a reconstruction two months after the events, to having kept the child’s head underwater in the bathtub.
Traces of semen were also found on Rose’s clothes. According to Me Collot, the teenager indicated at the hearing, when questioned and “a little pushed to his limits, that he would have masturbated after having committed the murder” of the child.
He affirmed since the beginning of the investigation that “nothing of a sexual nature” had happened that April day with the child.
The girl’s body did not present any suspicious marks, according to an autopsy report, but “this does not rule out touching”, noted the experts.
The girl’s genetic profile was also found “in a very small part of the accused’s testicles and penis” but also on his pants and underwear, according to a Source close to the case.
Asked about her client’s state of mind at the start of the afternoon, one of the teenager’s lawyers, Elise Lemelle, told the press that it was “difficult”, without wishing to speak. any further.
– “Malfunctions” –
In a previous case, the teenager was already sentenced in March to three years in prison, one of which was suspended, by the Epinal children’s court for rape and sexual assault on two boys aged 11 and 12. The events occurred in February 2022, before Rose’s death.
Placed in a closed educational center outside the department for a year after these attacks, the teenager then returned to live with his mother in Rambervillers, shortly before Rose’s murder.
Virginie Barbosa, counsel for the La Voix de l’Enfant association, explains that the association’s position during this trial is to “highlight the dysfunctions. It is particular because we have a minor victim, and an author who is also a minor.
The question of monitoring the adolescent will have to be debated at the hearing. “He comes out (of the closed educational center, editor’s note), and because there is no place in the IME (Medical-Educational Institute), we are going to return him to his parents’ home,” points out Me Barbosa.
The teenager is also the subject of another complaint for acts of rape and sexual assault also committed in February 2022, we learned last week. A preliminary investigation is still underway.
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