Gers Assizes: “Several people may have participated in the murder of France Piechocki”, according to the forensic doctor

Second day of the appeal trial concerning the murder of France Piechocki before the Gers Assize Court, Monday December 16 at the Auch courthouse. This retired nurse, living in Passage-d'Agen, was killed at her home on March 10, 2020. The alleged perpetrators, Jean-François Narbalas and his two sons Abraham Garcia and John Narbalas, were respectively sentenced to 28 and 22 years of criminal imprisonment at first instance by the Lot-et-Garonne Assize Court, in September 2023.

This Monday, the crime scene was once again dissected by two forensic doctors and three experts in genetics and pathology. Jurors discovered photos of the body of the victim, aged 76 when she died, which were projected on a large screen. The blood spatters on the wall and the pensioner's swollen head allowed them to realize the violence of the attack. Because France Piechocki had, among other things, “a shattered jaw, multiple fractures in the zygomatics, forehead, temporal bone, right cheekbone and right periorbital area, as well as lesions and a cerebral hemorrhage “. Injuries committed mainly “using a blunt object with an appendage, which could resemble a piece of wood or a gardening tool such as a small pickaxe”.

The victim died “by suffocation”

Heads lowered, so as not to see the horror of the scene again, the members of the victim's family once again confronted these macabre images with great dignity. In the accused box, Jean-François Narbalas, the one most involved in these acts of violence, was also unable to look at the photos of the crime scene. With his head down, he looked at his shoes during the long minutes of the intervention of the forensic doctor who was the first to arrive on the scene. His two sons, Abraham Garcia and John Narbalas, remained impassive when seeing the disfigured face of France Piechocki again.

In his report, the second forensic doctor describes “an action of hyperviolence whose targets were the head and neck”. “From the first blows, she was quickly unable to defend herself,” adds the latter. The elderly lady died “by suffocation” following “an act of cervical hyperpressure at the level of the thyroid, which can be linked to an arm lock”. This action took place “after the beatings taken by the victim”.

The expert is clear that this murder could be the work of one or more people. “We cannot eliminate the hypothesis that several people participated. Because of the typology of the lesions, which are very different.”

“In this family, phones are around”

This day was also devoted to the study of data from telephony. Important telephone data in this file to try to trace the day of the three accused. “It is good that we are having this debate, because it was completely hidden from the trial at first instance,” declared Me Martial, one of the defense lawyers.

However, the testimonies of the expert, several witnesses and those accused on this subject did not add much. Except for increasing the vagueness in the minds of the jurors around the use of different smartphones, which were in turn limited to Passage-d'Agen, Agenais and Villeneuvois on the day of the events. Especially when they learned that in the family of the three accused, from the community of settled Travelers, everyone had access to all the phones.

“In this family, phones are passed around and there is no confidentiality because everyone exchanges them,” said Me Mira, counsel to Jean-François Narbalas. “That’s how it happens on a daily basis.” Which helps explain why John Narbalas did not have his phone with him when he went to Villeneuvois with his brother to use the bank card stolen from the deceased. He gave it to Jean-François Narbalas, his father, who made several calls with it.

Questioned about the telephone, the three accused changed their version several times on small details of temporality. Tuesday, December 17, they will be questioned about the facts. The question of the photo of France Piechocki's pet turtle, which was found in Abraham Garcia's phone, will be studied by the court.