“I recognize the facts of murder that I am accused of, I cannot deny them because there are videos”: Liridon Berisa immediately admitted, on Tuesday, the murder of his partner in 2021 in Hayange, in first day of his trial before the Moselle Assizes.
The 26-year-old man, born in Kosovo, killed his partner Stéphanie Di Vincenzo in front of their daughter, a particularly sordid murder which generated controversy around the role played by the justice system and the police: Liridon Berisa had in fact ripped off his electronic bracelet the day before the incident, without it triggering the slightest alarm.
“At the start of my incarceration, I didn’t believe it. Over time, I came to accept the gesture I made. I know that I did not make a small gesture, that I could have shocked people, but I am not a thug,” declared the accused on Tuesday, who faces life imprisonment. Serge Ebel, psychologist, notes that the accused has a “low tolerance for frustration” and an “appetite for toxic substances which can increase his temperamental dispositions”.
Several stabbings, in front of their daughter
A description that does not please Liridon Berisa at all: “This gentleman is trying to make me appear to be a sick person, I am not a psychopath, I am a family man! If things don’t go well, I’ll take my slaps and slaps and let you debate,” he threatens.
On the night of May 23 to 24, 2021, a violent altercation took place between Liridon Berisa and the victim at their home in Hayange. Stéphanie Di Vincenzo, 22, escapes through the window, weakened and bloodied. Several witnesses saw her running towards the police station, located 40 meters from the home. But the police station is closed… The accused catches up with her in the street and stabs her several times, in front of neighbors and under the eyes of their 3-year-old daughter. He then throws his 25 centimeter long weapon into a trash can and flees.
In the afternoon, the chilling recording from the video surveillance camera of the Hayange police station, in front of which part of the events took place, was projected in the courtroom. We can see Stéphanie Di Vincenzo trying to push away her attacker, but receiving three blows from the accused, equipped with a large blade.
“Extremely violent, alcoholic and jealous”
Asked at the hearing about the closure of the night police station, the director of investigation replied that “any citizen will say yes”, a police station must be open 24 hours a day. “If the police station had been open.. . But with ifs…”.
Between January 2018 and November 2020, the police intervened ten times at the couple’s home. Stéphanie Di Vincenzo wanted to leave her companion, described by witnesses as “extremely violent, alcoholic and jealous”. Ms Di Vincenzo had filed a complaint against him in November 2020, but the complaint was not reported to the public prosecutor’s office.
Then public prosecutor of Metz, Christian Mercuri had refuted, the day after the tragedy, any “dysfunction of the judicial services”, nevertheless recognizing that “in an ideal world”, complaints filed by the victim against her violent spouse should have been reported to the public prosecutor.
A bracelet ripped off the day before the murder
An inspection mission launched by several ministers had noted “no shortcoming” in the decisions taken before the murder. “The often confusing attitude of this couple, with confrontations followed, sometimes immediately, by reconciliations, could have led to a trivialization of this situation by the police services,” it was written.
However, it was recalled at the hearing on Tuesday that Liridon Berisa, then only 17 years old, had already kidnapped his first girlfriend, kidnapped in Belgium, and that he threatened to “burn her or put her on the sidewalk “. Which earned him a first prison sentence.
A political refugee, the accused had also been sentenced to one year in prison for various traffic offenses. He had benefited from a reduced sentence and been placed on an electronic bracelet a few days before the events. A bracelet he had gotten rid of the day before the murder.
According to the inspection report, the device had suffered from an “unexplained malfunction” to the extent that, although it had been torn off, it had not triggered “any alarm at the monitoring center”. The hearing was suspended Tuesday evening, and will resume Wednesday morning. The verdict is expected on Friday.
(afp)
