” Finally ! Finally. It’s the first word that came to me when we learned of the arrest of my mother’s alleged murderer,” breathes Dounia, 46, near the Parisian. She believes that “this heaviness that was in our hearts for so long has instantly gone away, we will finally have an answer. » When the information broke, Dounia said she didn’t even try to find out who it was.
“The only thing that mattered to me was that justice could be done. After 24 years of fight, 24 years of tears, 24 years of hope, that’s it,” she adds. The one whose brother and sister died too soon to know the moment of justice, hopes to have an answer before their death.
Dounia wanted to salute the work done by the “cold case” center: “the “cold case” center works miracles and relieves hearts by finally providing answers.” Mohammed C. was arrested on Monday, November 25 and placed in police custody in the premises of the gendarmes of the Grenoble research section due to the presence of his DNA at the scene of Leïla’s murder. After his police custody was lifted on Friday morning, he was presented to a liberty and detention judge at the Dijon judicial court, who placed him in detention, pending his transfer to Nanterre. On Monday, the former Renault worker was indicted and placed in pre-trial detention by an investigating judge from the cold-case division of the Nanterre court.
To read: Cold cases: a Moroccan retiree indicted for two homicides in Isère
Dounia knew the Moroccan retiree. “Unfortunately, we grew up next to the murderer (7 km separated the homes of Leïla and Mohammed C.). From Bourgoin-Jallieu to Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, everyone knows each other, especially within our Moroccan community. I know Mohammed’s daughters, my mother knew his ex-wife. We saw each other at weddings, birthdays… On the other hand, I didn’t like being around this man. I avoided him, he didn’t reassure me. He even scared me,” she says. Leïla’s daughter was a thousand miles from imagining that Mohammed C. would be the alleged murderer of her mother.
“I found him strange. His look, his behavior, his habit of following girls, of offering to take them home in the car… I always refused to get into his car, he scared me. Even though Mohammed was scary, no one could imagine for a second that he would kill several times. Rapist, maybe, but not that! He’s a barbarian. Do we have a Nordahl Lelandais to the power of ten? “, she continues. She asks herself a thousand and one questions: “She (Leïla) has always fought for her children. She was known in the neighborhood for walking around with her shopping bags in a small cart. Moreover, Mohammed C. had approached her several times offering to transport her. Did she end up getting into his car, did he force her? »
Read: Isère: two cold cases resurface from the past, a Moroccan arrested
Dounia does not want Mohammed’s forgiveness: “I will not lower myself to show him our pain. 24 years ago he saw us cry. We can’t expect any forgiveness from a monster who has never had any empathy. My mother had to invest in apartments to protect us financially. Finally, when I was barely in my twenties, I had to work to feed my brothers and sisters while others were traveling, enjoying life… Mohammed C. ruined our lives. »
