Lawyers for the ex-franchisee accused of participating in the kidnapping of restaurant president Cora tried Thursday to undermine the credibility of a witness who says he was paid to keep watch by suggesting he would be part suddenly.
• Read also: Kidnapping of Cora’s president: witness says he was paid $ 100 to keep watch
“You took out the story of the famous surveillance to exonerate yourself?” […] The truth is that there was no kidnapping, Mr. Ben Romdhane ”, dropped Me Hovsep Dadaghalian, one of the defense lawyers.
“No, I was there as a witness and I told the truth,” Yacin Ben Romdhane, 33, replied.
On Thursday, lawyers for Paul Zaidan, 52, confronted his former employee by presenting him with cellular network logs that place him near the house on Principale Street in Laval as the president of Cora restaurants, Nicholas Tsouflidis, y would have been kidnapped.
They then implied that the witness would have participated in what they qualify as a “false kidnapping”, supposedly orchestrated by the victim himself.
The records also show that on February 28, 2017, Mr. Ben Romdhane’s cell phone was captured near two other places of interest to the investigation, a few kilometers from the victim’s home and a Subway restaurant from where the [email protected] email – which accompanied the ransom note – connected the same day.
Archive photo
Paul Zaidan
Same version
“I have no idea what this email is,” he hammered. I have never met Mr. Tsouflidis. ”
“Are you going to maintain that version?” »Then launched the lawyer.
“But sir, it’s the truth. I’ve never met him, ”he repeated.
After a full day at the Laval courthouse on Wednesday, the witness returned to court on Thursday to continue the close cross-examination of the defense. Throughout the day, the accused’s lawyers combed through each of his statements.
According to Mr. Ben Romdhane, his former boss asked him to carry out a surveillance for a few hours in exchange for $ 100. However, several details, such as the start time of the surveillance, remain unclear.
“You don’t remember [de l’heure à laquelle Paul Zaidan vous aurait demandé de venir] because this discussion never happened, ”said the lawyer.