“Pre-trial detention is a death sentence for Marie-Thérèse Garcia,” said Roger-Marc Moreau, who is part of her defense team, in front of journalists.
According to him, Ms. Garcia felt unwell in detention, a “start of stroke” in the past week, and her condition is getting worse.
The woman her lawyers present as the oldest inmate in France is accused of having participated in the murder of her ex-sister-in-law, whose body was found in a metal trunk in 1995, floating on the Seine, in Eure. .
Identification of the body, whose head, feet and hands had been severed, took two years.
On several occasions in the following years, investigations focused on “Ma Dalton”, as some former relatives nicknamed her because of her authoritarian tone.
In 2007, one of her daughters and a former companion, with whom she had a disagreement, claimed that she had confessed to having committed the murder.
In 2012, one of his granddaughters admitted on the phone to having “seen a good woman being cut into pieces”.
In 2017, the examination of two hairs found in the trunk with Ms. Di Dio established that they could belong to Ms. Garcia or someone in her family but without clearly identifying her.
No indictment has been issued and Ms. Garcia's counsel, who refuses to discuss the ongoing investigation, emphasizes that the two testimonies from 2007 come from family members with whom their client is in conflict.
As for the granddaughter's comments, collected during a wiretap for drug trafficking, they were not followed by an interview before an investigating judge before the latter's death in a car accident. the road.
In January 2023, another wiretap alerted investigators: while the old lady's great-niece, Leslie Hoorelbeke, 22, disappeared in Deux-Sèvres with her companion Kevin, the matriarch stormed and threatened to take away the culprits. “in pieces, in a suitcase”.
Marie-Thérèse Garcia has been placed in pre-trial detention since May 2023, and was sent back to the Assize Court in mid-November.
His counsel denounces an investigation carried out at a rapid pace and requests his release pending his trial.
“Detention is a means of obtaining confessions,” says Me Jérôme Goudard.
