The child died as a result of beatings attributed to his stepfather, but the extreme negligence of the mother allowed the defense lawyers to make a breakthrough. Since the start of his trial before the Côtes-d'Armor assizes, the advice of Gaël Scoubart, accused of the murder of little Eythan, in 2022 in Guingamp, has tried to cast doubt, in the heads of the jurors, on the possible guilt of the mother, Lisa D.
Maybe it's you who did the beating
The young woman is being prosecuted for related offenses of deprivation of care and non-assistance to her baby, who died on July 10, 2022 and was left dead for an entire day in her room. Not for the violence, therefore, which did not prevent the defense from pushing Lisa D. to her limits, during her questioning on the facts. “Perhaps it was you who carried out the beatings,” Mr. Klit Delilaj told him.
“What mother would continue to love her son’s murderer? »
The investigations having not been able to determine, with precision, the time of Eythan's death, the lawyers of the main accused believe that both, in the closed doors of their apartment in Guingamp, could have been at the origin of the violent shaking which killed the child. “You stopped playing your video game at 3 a.m. that night and didn't go to bed until 5 a.m. What have you done? “, asked Mr. Delilaj again.
I'm such a terrible mother, does that really surprise you?
Gaël Scoubart's other counsel, Me Thomas Jourdain-Demars, also read to the court the letter in which Lisa D., then in pre-trial detention shortly after the tragedy, expressed her love to the accused. “What mother would continue to love her son’s murderer? “, confronted the lawyer. Response from the person concerned, a bit annoyed: “I am such a terrible mother, does that really surprise you? “.
“How angry could you get?” »
During these four days of hearing, they wanted to show that the accused would have a violent profile. Neighbors, who came to report difficulties in the building on rue du Petit-Lourdes, supported this thesis. The lawyer for the civil parties, Me Bertrand Faure, also raised it. “How angry could you get one day, one evening or one late afternoon, if your son was unmanageable? »
So much so that Lisa D.'s lawyer, Maître Françoise Le Goardet, often had to refocus the debate on the main accused. “If you didn't react when you realized Eythan's death, maybe it's because you knew you were behind it and you needed time to find an alibi? », she questioned him. Gaël Scoubart himself never really accused Lisa D. of being the author of the facts that he denies.
A key witness who changes his mind
This Thursday morning, a key witness called by the defense undermined its strategy: the brother of Lisa D. During the investigation, he had believed in his sister's guilt. “If the idea of killing Eythan came from her, she could have manipulated Gaël. Everything is not clear in his head,” he accused. However, since then, the brother has largely revised his judgment: “I was angry, it was all just sadness… My sister, she just made a lot of mistakes.”
