He claimed his innocence. Mamadou Diallo, tried for the bloody murder of a postwoman, Catherine Burgod, in 2008 in Montreal-la-Cluse, was acquitted on Monday April 4 by the Ain Assize Court “for the benefit of the doubt”. After nearly five hours of deliberation, the 30-year-old was however sentenced to two years’ imprisonment – a sentence covered by his pre-trial detention – for the theft of a wad of banknotes which he recognized.
Confused by his DNA nearly ten years after the facts, Mamadou Diallo claims to have gone to the scene of the murder but to have fled after discovering the victim’s body. The Advocate General had requested a 30-year prison sentence. “I do not believe in the thesis of the profiteering spectator (…) and if we are not a spectator, it is because we are an actor on the scene”said Eric Mazaud.
“From the beginning I declare that I am innocent, I had nothing to do with the death of this poor woman”assured the 32-year-old accused several times before the Assize Court.
The body of Catherine Burgod, 41, was discovered on December 19, 2008 at 9:05 a.m. in the back room of the small post office in Montreal-la-Cluse, bathed in a pool of blood. A total of 28 stab wounds were recorded on the body of this mother of two, 5 months pregnant.
The investigation was first oriented on the track of Gérald Thomassin, ex-hope of French cinema who had become marginal, who then lived opposite this post. This man disappeared in 2019, before benefiting from a dismissal.
“Don’t mind, of course I’m going to talk about Thomassin, I’m convinced he’s the culprit”launched in a loud voice at the start of the argument the defense lawyer, Sylvie Noachovitch, who has been warning since the start of the trial of the risk “a miscarriage of justice”.