IThere are questions that a president of an assize court asks without waiting for a response. We didn’t expect much, Tuesday evening, from Sandrine P., tried for acts of torture and barbarity on her daughter Amandine, who died of starvation at home, in August 2020. Because Sandrine P. says nothing, or almost, since the opening of the hearing. Because she spent the day responding sideways, or not responding at all. Nor to the striking testimonies of his eldest children, Cassandra and Jérémy, who detailed the abuse they suffered when they were little, and those that their younger sister had endured. Nor to the stories of the staff of Amandine’s former college and her former boarding school classmates. Nor even to the photos, shown that very morning, of the tortured body of the teenager.
Every evening from 6 p.m.
Receive the information analyzed and deciphered by the Point editorial staff.
Merci !
Your registration has been taken into account with the email address:
To discover all our other newsletters, go here: MyAccount
By registering, you accept the general conditions of use and our confidentiality policy.
And then something collapses. Something breaks and Sandrine P. says “Yes, yes I recognize it”.
“- Do you recognize the acts of violence committed against your daughter from March 17 to August 6, 2020?, asks the president.
– Oui.
– Do you recognize the acts of torture and barbarity during the period of confinement, and until the date of death? The isolation, the humiliation, the fact that she is naked, starving, confined in a room, relegated there for weeks and no one can access her?
– Yes, I recognize it.
– Madam, I speak under the control of your lawyers, do you admit the facts with which you are accused?
-– Acts of violence, yes.
– Acts of torture and barbarity?
– Oui.
– This is the first time, said the president gently, that I have seen you cry.
Sandrine P. is crying, in fact, with her hands crossed in front of her, her face half-hidden by her long brown hair.
« Not, Madame! »
This required the broadcast of audio recordings made in August 2019 by a young neighbor of the family. Chilling, almost unbearable documents, where we hear Amandine’s screams, howls of pure terror, interspersed with sobs and moans of pain. The two tapes are of poor quality and the investigators, in their report, transcribed the content as best they could: “At one minute thirty seconds, “Ouch Ouch, stop, it hurts”, then rapid noises making think of rapid blows to the little girl.”
ALSO READ “It was hell on earth”: Amandine’s sister, who died of starvation, recounts her childhood
To Discover
Kangaroo of the day
Answer
But what the court listened to this Tuesday, in frozen silence, defies description. We can indeed make out parts of Amandine’s sentences. “No, Madam!” », “Stop, not that”. We recognize the cold and almost calm voice of Sandrine P. in the background. And then the little girl’s screams, again and again. Amandine who begs her mother to stop but who, that day, seems not to even think about calling for help.
When the young neighbor heard, when she ran to her mother to tell her that something terrible was happening in the house next door, she was unable to get what she had just said to be heard correctly. ‘save. Her mother came to the window in turn, this window which overlooked the neighbors’ courtyard, but calm had returned. So the mother tried to find out if passers-by had also witnessed the screams, without result. She said to herself, and seems to apologize for it on the stand, that this recording, the contents of which she did not know, could perhaps be useful one day, if such a scene were to recur. “I didn’t know who to contact. » Amandine died a year later.
Related News :