the accused reject responsibility

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“I saw Gaël again, I had butterflies in my stomach, I’m ashamed of still loving him, he killed my son.”

These are the words made by Lisa D., in a letter sent to a friend, in May 2023.

This start of the week is marked by the hearings by the Court of the two accused, who are asked to explain the facts.

Very few memories for either of them

Lisa D. remembers getting up around 5 p.m. that Saturday, going to her son’s room to get a kitten.

She thinks she remembers Eythan moving, because she told him: “It’s nothing, it’s mom.”

According to testimonies, she was seen in the parking lot of her building at the end of the afternoon, crying, then she ate McDonald’s at home with her partner. She doesn’t remember it.

Her companion tells her, when she gets up, that the little one has been hellish, unmanageable. That he put him to bed with a bottle, but the child didn’t want cake.

Gaël Scoubart then goes shopping. This element only appeared in the procedure at the time of the confrontation, in 2023.

Conversely, he does not remember seeing bruises on the boy’s head, although he declared this several times during the investigation.

Loss of self-control

Eythan didn’t want to go potty at the end of the afternoon. Gaël Scoubart lost his composure, pushed him onto the pot. The child got up and urinated on the floor, then allegedly hit his head on the wall and threw himself to the ground.

The father-in-law grabbed him by the arm and threw him on his bed, that’s what he always said. Today, he minimizes his action and admits to having taken him by the arm, but rather “dropped him on his bed. »

The couple spends the day sleeping

The next morning, Gaël Scoubart got up around 11 a.m. He goes to the child’s room and hears him breathing. So he goes back to bed and gets up again, a little before 4:30 p.m. He returns to the child’s room, takes a photograph of a kitten lying on a toy.

The macabre discovery

Then he turns back to the child. Here again, his statements have evolved. During the investigation, he was able to say that he touches Eythan’s shoulder, turns him towards him. He notices the presence of bruises on his head, Eythan is cold, he is dead.

Today, in the dock, despite questions from Maître Bertrand Faure of the Saint-Brieuc bar, lawyer for the civil parties, the accused fails to repeat these last words, he declares: “I was stunned, petrified. Eythan was lying on his stomach, head towards the wall, the usual position when he sleeps. He cannot say “He is dead”.

Arguments several times a week

The accused then mentions the frequent arguments between the couple. The subject is regularly linked to the education of the little boy. The accused has just learned that school is compulsory at age three and for him, certain things are urgent, like potty training.

This point seems to be particularly close to his heart. However, the couple is “on the same wavelength” for certain things, like the fact that Eythan could spend entire days alone in his room, playing, watching cartoons, without calling anyone.

Had the little boy convinced himself that he couldn’t count on many people?

Significant cannabis consumption

The couple’s cannabis consumption is significant, at a rate of 20 euros per day. In order to justify the amount spent on the purchase of this product in relation to their meager income, Lisa D. declares: “We bought on crome” (purchase on credit for dealers).

Lisa D. has been depressed for many years, with “ups and downs”. She was already scarifying herself in college. “She appears to have “resigned” from the obligations relating to the education of her son and the maintenance of her home.

One testimony states that she was simply lazy. She spent her time in her room on her phone and smoking.

A juror asks the accused a question: “In the evening, were you going to tuck your son in and give him a kiss for the night? »

The answer is as surprising as it is laconic: “No”.

Lisa D. gets angry at questions from her co-defendant’s lawyers

The two lawyers, Maître Thomas Jourdain-Demars and Maître Klit Delilaj, from the Rennes bar, take turns questioning the accused.

The objective seems clear, to cast doubt on the guilt of their client.

Feeling attacked, the accused’s behavior changes. Having remained calm since the opening of the debates, she appears aggressive and abrupt in her responses.

The accused’s statements evolve regularly

Maître Françoise Le Goardet-Prigent of the Saint-Brieuc bar, who defends the accused, in turn questions Gaël Scoubart.

She confronts him with the various and numerous contradictions in his statements, both during the procedure and since the opening of the debates before the Assize Court.

The person ended up declaring: “I thought it was me until I saw the autopsy findings.”

His counsel continues his reasoning, indicating that it is not by pushing a child on his potty or on his bed that we can cause such bruises.

Three experts, psychologists and psychiatrist present before the Court

It was the same expert psychiatrist who examined the two accused. According to his conclusions, these two people do not suffer from any disorder which abolished or altered their discernment at the time of the events.

This practitioner nevertheless noted, in Gaël Scoubart, that he had a distant behavior on an emotional level, regarding the death of a child.

Concerning the psychological examination of the latter, it was carried out by a panel of two psychologists, having noted that at the start of their interview with the accused, he had adopted a defensive position, because he had been aware of his file previously. They specify that he admitted to them that he could sometimes be overwhelmed by the situation of living together with Lisa D.

SK

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