“The judicial information contains many gaps and inconsistencies, starting with the motive, which the prosecution always fails to characterize,” according to the lawyers of the alleged assassin.
AFP
Why was Housni N. killed? The trial of his alleged assassin, Stéphane Maraine, on Tuesday before the Paris Assize Court, will attempt to answer this question which has still not been answered, more than five years after this 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.
A shell casing on the victim’s shoulder
The facts date back to June 26, 2019. In an empty house in Courtenay (Loiret), investigators from the Hauts-de-Seine PJ, alerted by the wife of Housni N., worried about not having heard from her husband for several days, discovered the body of a man riddled with 22 caliber long rifle bullets. The body is leaning against a wall in a basement room of the house, the door of which is locked. But no key to open it is discovered either inside or 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 on June 20 to make an estimate for work on a house he planned to acquire 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.
-Stéphane Maraine admitted to having met Housni N. in Courtenay, but explained that he had left the scene when a third, unidentified person arrived in a dark Audi A3. On June 22, Housni N.’s wife and brother went to Courtenay looking for the missing man. They found that the house was empty, with no apparent disorder.
“To cover it”
Suspected of being the last to have seen Housni N. alive, Stéphane Maraine 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 investigators, he explained that it was “to cover him up” in the event of a problem. Stéphane Maraine also claimed to have moved Housni N.’s Mercedes, at his request, to Grigny (Essonne) on June 21.
During his last hearing, Stéphane Maraine declared that in fact, he was 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.
Stéphane Maraine will also change his version, saying he got rid of the safe to scam the insurance companies. The chest will be found, but not the weapons. At the shooting range, investigators found impacted 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 couple’s trial is scheduled until January 31, 2025.
(afp)
