Me Miller, lawyer for Jean-Luc Clitophon, pleaded at least ten mitigating circumstances in favor of the murderer. A sentence of ten years’ imprisonment is proposed for those detained under electronic surveillance.
Me Danneau, Mary Volkaert’s lawyer, pleaded for a suspended sentence. Mary Volkaert is free. The attorney general requested a four-year prison sentence against Mary Volkaert. He does not oppose the probationary suspension proposed by Me Danneau.
Jean-Luc
Jean-Luc Clitophon, detained under electronic surveillance, was found guilty of murder and computer fraud. For the prosecution, the facts are extremely serious and the prey was easy. “We are in a real massacre. That day he decided he had to finish with her, beating her like a savage and throwing her in a dump“, says the attorney general.
The murderer says he had a difficult childhood, steeped in alcohol and violence. The attorney general believes that this is not a mitigating circumstance, due to several testimonies given before the court.
Crime in La Louvière: it was indeed a murder!
He adds that Jean-Luc Clitophon is still casual about violence, ten years after the events. “His personality is particularly worrying, there is no questioning about him“.
Jean-Luc Clitophon also has nine convictions on his criminal record: theft, drugs, etc. “He said he no longer needed to work as his income doubled after he got his hands on the victim’s accounts“, insists the Advocate General, who did not take into account any mitigating circumstances. He asks not to impose a sentence of less than 25 years of criminal imprisonment.
Me Isaac Miller confirms that his client was a drinker, a thief, a drug dealer and a profiteer. However, he believes that the possibilities of reintegration into society exist. He considers at least ten mitigating circumstances in favor of his client: his difficult life history, his sociable and peaceful personality described by the character witnesses, the absence of a criminal record for violence, his confessions, his collaboration with the police, his regrets, his love for his twelve-year-old daughter, his precarious health due to respiratory problems, his change of life after his incarceration or even respect for his detention under electronic surveillance and the absence of risk of recidivism.
Mary
The attorney general states that Mary Volkaert was raised in a normal family, “but she never put in the good will to get out of it“. She lives from day to day, having worked three times in her life.
David Dufrasnes considers that computer fraud is “particularly odious” because the victim was killed in the couple’s home. For six years, Mary said nothing, taking advantage of the money.
Mary Volkaert has no criminal record. Me Laura Danneau presented a lady whose world boils down to Jean-Luc Clitophon, whom she met when she was thirteen, and their daughter whom she has always taken care of. “Placing this child would be a tragedy for my client and her daughter“, indicates the lawyer, describing her client as submissive and dependent.
The lawyer adds that Mary has taken control of herself since the events and that she is capable of evolving. However, the work is not finished,”and she is able to work“. According to the lawyer, Mary would like to continue training in cooking. Mary Volkaert is committed to respecting the conditions she signed.
The first verdict
Wednesday, early in the afternoon, the jurors considered that it was a murder that had been committed in the small house occupied by the couple on rue du Hocquet in La Louvière, on a date between November 1, 2014 and May 1, 2015. Jean-Luc Clitophon delivered numerous punches to the face of Christiane Scherpereel, a woman vulnerable due to mental retardation. A cerebral hemorrhage caused death.
Crime in La Louvière: “I never changed the version of the facts”, declares the accused, before sending the jurors to deliberate
The computer fraud is established by the fact that the Clitophon-Volkaert couple used the victim’s bank card, including after his death, thus withdrawing more than 50,000 euros from two bank accounts.
The jury and the court, meeting as a panel, left to deliberate on the sentence.
Related News :