Justice dissected its own functioning this Monday at the Loire-Atlantique assizes, in Nantes. François Vergniaud, is on trial for the rape and murder of young Céleste in 2020and this second day of hearing began with a clarificationafter a restless end of day Friday evening. “I understand the emotion, I understand the anger, I understand the distrust of justice, I can understand that people do not trust me, but all the people who have attended the trials that I have led, know that I don't compromise, I don't intend to leave anything under the rug”launched Laurence Delhaye, the president of the court. She took the opportunity to demonstrate firmness, following the applause launched Friday evening, and “insulting remarks made against defense counsel”. Attitudes that cannot “to reproduce”.
Socio-judicial monitoring
The court was due to consider this Monday the personality of François Vergniaud, gray hair, eyes still fixed on the ground, but with the first witness, the questions focused on the functioning of the judicial system, particularly on socio-judicial monitoring. The integration and probation counselor who followed the accused was called to the stand. With a calm, sometimes trembling voice, she detailed the workings of this follow-up for an hour and a half.
First monthly meetings, then once every two months, and finally quarterly interviews. For four years, she followed the journey of this man, a permanent employee, since his release in 2015he lives with his partner in a house.**** This advisor had her first contact with François Vergniaud in March 2016, the last on June 26, 2020, only a few weeks before the rape and murder of Céleste. “Our main mission is recidivism”confided the advisor at the bar. A word that particularly resonates in the courtroom, when the accused has already committed rape.
“We know it can happen”
“Do you think these signals existed and you didn't detect them, or would he have covered it up well?”asks the president of the court. “We are not safe from manipulation, we rely a lot on the person's declarations, we can miss it. Afterwards, there are four of us people carrying out the follow-up, no one had noticed anything”replies the advisor. Already a little earlier, during the questions, the declarative aspect had been raised, what “is a limit”she admitted on the stand.
In an interview with investigators, she remembers the moment when she understood that this man, already convicted, had committed the act again. The advisor was returning from vacation, on the radio, she heard information about a rape and a murder in Nantes, committed by a repeat offender: “I didn’t understand. There was nothing that could have alerted me, it’s obviously upsetting”follows a long pause, overcome by emotion, a few meters from the members of the victim's family, seated in the front row, wearing a white t-shirt with Céleste's photo on it. “We know that it can happen, from our training we are told. We do everything to prevent it from happening, but as long as the work is humane, it can happen”says this woman at the bar. The audition finished, she quickly leaves the room, eyes filled with tears.
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