The family of Maëlys still in search of answers halfway through the Lelandais trial, in Grenoble. Since the start of the hearing, the murderer of the eight-year-old girl has clung to his version before the Assize Court of Isère and that will not change for Joachim De Araujo, the girl’s father.
The days of hearing are trying for the father of Maëlys, he recognizes it. Since the beginning of the hearing, the murderer of the eight-year-old girl has not advanced on the path to the truth, despite inconsistencies between his statements, the facts and the testimonies. If Nordahl Lelandais has recognized pedophile inclinations, he denies any sexual motive concerning Maëlys. The Court will therefore continue, this Wednesday, to dissect minute by minute the wedding evening during which the kidnapping and then the murder of the girl occurred. He still defends him from an uncontrolled outburst and beatings in his car as he drove him away “see his dogs” at 2:46 a.m. A version that does not hold water for Joachim De Araujo. Halfway through, Maëlys’ dad no longer has any illusions about this trial.
His only satisfaction: that we finally talk about his daughter, Maëlys
His only satisfaction: that we finally talk about his daughter Maelys this week. He had a very bad experience of the long days devoted to identifying the personality of the person who took him away. He has the feeling, too, that he won’t get the answers he came for.. “Maybe a part, but not the whole truth, no. I highly doubt” he said Tuesday evening, at the end of the hearing. “I can’t understand his position. I don’t know what he’s really looking for” he wonders”if he is still in denial, maybe he still has things to hide?
A broken man, “lost at sea”
He is a man broken by the affair: the loss of Maëlys, the divorce then, inevitable… He comes to the courthouse every day, but for four years since Maëlys disappeared, Joachim De Araujo is unrecognizable. He has lost 25 kilos lost since this cursed evening, “almost the weight of his little one” that Nordahl Lelandais took away from him reports his lawyer at the hearing. Broken, adrift, Joachim De Araujo described himself to the Court as “a dad lost at sea who tries to get his head out of the water. And each time, during these events, he plunges my head back to the bottom”. So he is content with small victories, like when his eldest daughter Colleen empties her bag, facing the bar, facing the murderer of her sister, from the height of her 16 years.
“She said her anger, what she had on her heart, it allowed her to free herself, even if it won’t bring her sister back, we know that very well! But it allowed her to free her anger. And Mr. Lelandais, I don’t see how we can expect more from him, I don’t see” he laments.
There are eight days of hearings left… and less and less hope.