It's a common physique like one might come across in a crowd. Arnaud Dufour entered the accused box, at the Périgueux Assize Court (Dordogne), Tuesday November 12. It is there that he is tried for three days for murder, a little more than three years after the discovery of the body of Jean-Yves Di Pasquale at his home in Cours Tourny, in Périgueux, on April 12, 2021. He benefits, at this stage, of the presumption of innocence.
At the opening of the hearing, around 3 p.m., the president gave the opportunity to the accused (whose criminal record is clean) to give his version, as is his right: “No thank you,” he said. -he simply replied. A disconcerting, but constant, attitude: since he was taken into custody and then indicted, the man, now 40 years old, has never said anything. He maintains his innocence and asserts his right to silence.
So, who is this homeless person who faces thirty years in prison for the murder of Jean-Yves Di Pasquale, who died at the age of 54?
Silence total
The personality survey was difficult, since the person concerned did not wish to participate. It nevertheless made it possible to highlight a difficult environment, with an “unhealthy and complex” organization.
Arnaud Dufour leaves these repeated conflicts at 18 years old. As an adult, he completed a CAP in masonry and worked in construction and catering. But he quickly found himself on the street, where he lived in wandering and smoked cannabis “massively”. After spending a few years as a couple in Lyon, he arrived in Brive, then finally in Périgueux.
It was there, while begging in front of the cathedral, that he met the victim. Jean-Yves Di Pasquale, described as “friendly and helpful” with the homeless, takes him into his home. Arnaud Dufour sleeps on the sofa bed in his living room. According to the investigating judge, it was during this period of accommodation that the tragedy occurred.
Dr. Jacques Bertrand, expert psychiatrist, provides a contrasting portrait of the accused. It is marked by “impulsivity, dyssocial traits”, but above all “delusional paranoia, with very marked delirium”, in which cannabis consumption may have played an aggravating role.
“He is mentally ill, but there is no clinical element to relieve him of responsibility”
Could the drug have altered or abolished his discernment? “He is mentally ill, but there is no clinical element to relieve him of responsibility,” judges Dr. Bertrand, pointing out that release from prison would not make him “particularly dangerous.”
This Tuesday, the presentation of the autopsy report was painful for the civil parties. The Di Pasquale family chose not to look at the photos of the body which show the traces of blows: it is a blunt object having fatally struck the back of the head. A hammer? The police found, in a garbage container near the victim's home, such a tool which carried the suspect's DNA, but not that of the victim.
During his rare statements, Arnaud Dufour assured that he had simply hung up a painting at his host's house with this hammer.
On Wednesday, November 13, the court will examine the evidence gathered against the accused. Will he react? This will be the issue of the second day of the trial, before the verdict expected Thursday, November 14 in the afternoon.
