Tuesday January 21, the trial of Stéphane Maraine and his partner begins before the Paris Assize Court. The mason is the main suspect in the murder of Housni N., a luxury car rental company, in an unoccupied house in Courtenay, in Loiret, in 2019. If the evidence stacks up against him, one question remains unanswered: Why ?
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Why was Housni N. killed in 2019 in Courtenay? The trial of the main suspect, Stéphane Maraine, will have to try to answer this question which has still not found an answer. The hearing opens this Tuesday, January 21 before the Paris Assize Court, more than five years after the enigmatic murder.
Prosecuted for murder, Stéphane Maraine proclaims his innocence. His partner, Karine M. will be tried alongside him for criminal conspiracy and altering the scene of a crime. Both, under judicial supervision, must appear free. Stéphane Maraine served five years in pre-trial detention between 2019 and 2024.
The facts date back to June 26, 2019. In an empty house in Courtenay, in Loiret, investigators from the Hauts-de-Seine judicial police discovered the body of a man riddled with 22 caliber long rifle bullets. They intervene, alerted by Housni N.’s wife, worried about not having heard from her husband for several days.
The body is leaning against a wall in a basement room of the house, the door of which is locked. But no key allowing it to be opened is discovered neither inside nor outside. A single impacted ammunition casing was found, placed on the left shoulder of the victim.
During the findings, investigators noticed that the floor leading to the room where the body was located had been cleaned. A strong smell of chlorine emanates from it. No traces of blood at the crime scene, or anywhere else in the house.
-Housni N., director of a luxury car rental agency, left his home in Neuilly-sur-Seine, in Hauts-de-Seine, on June 20 to make an estimate for work in a house he was considering purchasing in Courtenay. His interlocutor on site was to be Stéphane Maraine, a mason with whom he had met a few days earlier through a mutual friend during a lunch at Fouquet’s.
From the start of the investigation, Stéphane Maraine admitted having met Housni N. in Courtenay, but explained that he left the scene when a third, unidentified person arrived in a dark Audi A3. Suspected of being the last to have seen the victim alive, the mason is placed in police custody.
Several elements are held against him. On the day of his meeting with Housni N., he did not take his phone, but asked his partner to use it by sending an SMS to make it appear that he was not in Courtenay. To the investigators, he explained that it was “to cover it” in the event of a problem. Stéphane Maraine also claims to have moved the victim’s Mercedes, at her request, to Grigny in Essonne, 60 kilometers away, on June 21.
During his last hearing, Stéphane Maraine claimed to have been recruited by Housni N. to transport drugs to Bayonne aboard the Mercedes and that the departure was planned from Grigny. Registered with a shooting club, the accused has several weapons including a 22 long rifle, but his weapons, stored in a safe, disappeared following a burglary at his home at the end of June.
Later, Stéphane Maraine changes his version, saying he got rid of the safe to defraud the insurance companies. The chest is found, but not the weapons. At the shooting range, investigators got their hands on shell cases fired by the same weapon as the murder weapon.
But why would Stéphane Maraine kill him when he barely knew him? Did he act on orders? “The judicial investigation which lasted more than four years contains numerous gaps and inconsistencies, starting with the motive, which the prosecution always fails to characterize. Mr. Maraine calmly awaits this trial which will allow him to finally demonstrate his innocence“, his lawyers, Benjamin Bohbot and Julien Zanatta, told AFP.
Me Mejda Bendami, who defends the victim’s partner and their two daughters (one of whom is still a minor), indicated that her clients “wish to know the truth about the circumstances of the death [de Housni N.] and the reasons for his assassination“.
The trial is scheduled until January 31.
