the ordeal of Amandine, 13 years old, starved to death by her mother

“There is no doubt that Amandine endured destructive and paroxysmal violence from Sandrine Pissarra, the sole purpose of which was the desire to drag her into shameful and humiliating agony,” wrote the investigating judge. in his investigation report. Hungry for months, Amandine, 13, weighed only 28 kg and 1.55 m tall on the day of her death, August 6, 2020. Tried for “acts of torture resulting in death”, at the Montpellier assizes from on Monday, his mother faces life imprisonment.

Former waitress, mother of eight children born from different unions, Sandrine Pissarra, 54, must also answer for intentional violence against Amandine over the previous six years. “Violent, manipulative and liar”, according to her ex-companions, accused of abuse by several of her other children, the fifty-year-old had given herself an image of “mother courage” in her small village of Montblanc, in Hérault. She always denied the facts, even describing herself as a “loving” mother facing a “thief” and “capricious” teenager.

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Sunken eye sockets, prominent cheekbones and sunken cheeks… “It looked like she had experienced the holocaust”

In the file, consulted by AFP, two photos illustrate the martyrdom of the young girl. On the first, dating from her return to third grade, in September 2019, Amandine, with a small smile, has long black hair and seems of a normal build. In the second, on the day of her death, she presents the impressive marks of serious malnutrition: sunken eye sockets, prominent cheekbones and sunken cheeks. She “must have been the victim of serious neglect on the part of her family environment to reach such a level of weight loss,” noted the forensic doctor.

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“It looked like she had experienced the holocaust, the torture of hunger,” Amandine’s father, Frédéric Florès, confided to Midi Libre in June 2021. Wrongly convicted of domestic violence on the accusations of his ex -partner, then exonerated by the courts, he only had a limited right of visitation with his daughter. A right which was also refused to him by his mother. He couldn’t even attend his own daughter’s funeral. He filed a civil suit.

Sandrine Pissarra was able to “transpose her hatred” of Amandine’s father onto her daughter’s body

According to the psychiatric expertise, Sandrine Pissarra was able to “transpose her hatred” of Amandine’s father onto the body of her daughter. The investigation revealed that Amandine, who had the misfortune of being born at the time of her parents’ breakup, had always been her mother’s bully. This notably deprived her of food (as she did for other of her children), but also inflicted endless “writing punishments” on her, forcing her to copy lines for entire days. The little girl was locked in a windowless storage room, with little or no clothing, under the surveillance of cameras, and from which she only came out to carry out household chores. In addition to the numerous beatings, she was sometimes forced to kneel on an iron ruler for hours as punishment.

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Placed in a boarding school, she was able to escape for a time, during the week only, from the abuse inflicted by her mother, and also by her companion, who was also tried. But with confinement, the schoolgirl had stopped going to school, and had to stay in the family home. The violence and deprivation had increased, with no safeguards or limits.

When the emergency services discovered Amandine’s emaciated body, she was missing teeth and hair.

On August 6, 2020, called by the mother after her daughter felt unwell, the emergency services discovered with horror the poor, tortured body of Amandine. Extremely thin, the little girl is covered in marks of blows, even on her face. He is missing teeth and handfuls of hair. She choked while eating, her mother assures the doctors. They won’t be able to do anything. Amandine is dead.

Heard the next day, Sandrine Pissarra explained that Amandine suffered from eating disorders, which no one confirmed. The day before her death, according to her mother, she only agreed to swallow a piece of sugar, a little compote and a high-protein drink, before she started vomiting and then stopped breathing. According to a double autopsy report, his death was due to a “heart rhythm disorder” secondary to a state of extreme weight loss associated with septicemia and “a possible syndrome of inappropriate renutrition”. Amandine died from starvation.

Questioning the flaws in the child protection system

Arrested and indicted nine months later, Amandine’s mother and her partner have been in pre-trial detention ever since. In a relationship with her since 2016 and judged alongside her, Jean-Michel Cros, 49, risks 30 years of imprisonment for having “deprived his daughter-in-law of care or food” and having done nothing to “save” her. of certain death,” according to the indictment order consulted by AFP.

In addition to Amandine’s father, her brother and sister have filed a civil suit, as have four associations, including “L’Enfant Bleu – Enfance Maltraitée”, which intends to “question the flaws in the child protection system”. In fact, several reports and three referrals to the children’s judge had not resulted in any measure that could have put Amandine out of danger.