The Isère Assize Court sentenced Nordahl Lelandais to life imprisonment with a 22-year security sentence for the murder and kidnapping of little Maëlys in August 2017. A verdict that satisfies the lawyers civil parties.
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“He will never hurt anyone again”Satisfied the mother of Maëlys, Jennifer De Araujo. “I am happy with the verdict because life is what we took when we no longer had Maëlys”she added.
“Maëlys has put a dangerous criminal in prison. I am proud to be the mother of my daughter.”
Jennifer De Araujo, Maelys’ motherat franceinfo
Maëlys’ mother says to herself “relieved it’s over” because for her “Those three weeks of trial were an ordeal.” She ends by explaining that we “Will still not know what Maeylis really died of. Only he knows.”
“Justice passed calmly, relentlessly, uncompromisingly, impartially”, reacted on his side Me Fabien Rajon, the lawyer of Jennifer De Araujo. The lawyer says his “satisfaction” of the jury’s verdict. This verdict “honors our justice, our judicial institution.”
“In a state of law, in the face of such despicable crimes, our justice must not be weak. And I think that our French justice has not been weak. It has shown strength. It has done in so that what is just may be strong, and what is strong may be just.”
Me Fabien Rajon, lawyer for Jennifer De Araujoat franceinfo
Me Fabien Rajon claims to have been “particularly proud to defend” Maëlys’ family, greeting Colleen, 16, the little girl’s sister, “an exemplary teenager who supported the gaze of Nordahl Lelandais who told her the truth”. “Coleen De Araujo is the character of these meetings”continues the lawyer, for whom the teenager is “revealed during these meetings” when she addressed “a cry of anger” at Nordhal Lelandais, during their confrontation, the central moment of the trial. “Coleen is going to be 17, she is at the dawn of an adult life, of a woman and I think that these foundations have allowed her to reveal herself, to take a little height”explains master Rajon, before emphasizing his “extraordinary aplomb towards Nordhal Lelandais.”
It pays tribute to Jennifer De Araujo, “a dignified mother, a fighter, a great lady, a lioness”, as well as to the girl’s father and the whole family. The lawyer says he is happy and proud to have been “by their side for a year.” This is “the end of a long road”continues Fabien Rajon. “The French must think of this family” because from monday “there will be no more microphone and camera. They will remain with their mourning which is so difficult to do“. “Think of themadds the lawyer. Keep giving them little gestures of affection, little words of support.”
“We are leaving with the major dissatisfaction of not having been able to obtain the essential answerssaid master Laurent Boguet, lawyer for Joachim De Araujo, father of Maëlys. This bruised family will have to accept that Nordhal Lelandais takes with him, in his cell, elements of understanding.
“How he could do it, why did he do it, what were the last moments of this little girl, so many ankles that tap into the mind and heart of Joachim De Araujo.”
Me Laurent Boguet, lawyer for Joachim De Araujoat franceinfo
Nevertheless, Maître Boguet approved the verdict rendered: “It was a sanction that was expected and the justice of the men passed. It took the measure of the extreme gravity of the facts alleged against Nordhal Lelandais.” A sanction which also took the measure, according to the lawyer, of concerns about “the attitude of the person concerned and his prospects for development”. Nordhal Lelandais was sentenced to a ten-year socio-judicial follow-up and a treatment order. “An expectation” for Joachim De Araujo, in line with the “exceptional nature of this file”indicated Maître Boguet.
“There is no reason to rejoice, but it is an expected decision and which will serve to ease the pain of the civil parties and in particular the families of the victims”, reacted to the microphone of France Bleu Me Yves Crespin, lawyer for the associations “The blue child” and “The voice of the child”, civil parties to the trial of Nordahl Lelandais at the assizes of Isère. The jury’s decision is “consistent with what Nordahl Lelandais appeared” during this trial, believes the lawyer.
The conviction of Nordahl Lelandais is accompanied by a 22-year security sentence. beyond this pain, “he will have the possibility of requesting his conditional release and it will be up to the sentence enforcement judge to assess the evolution of his condition”indicates Me Yves Crespin. “He said he was going to work on him in prison, I hope he will do it seriously and that he can then consider something other than incarceration”comments the lawyer.
“It is the judicial truth that came out of the Assize Court of Isère”reacted to the microphone of France Bleu Isère Me Caroline Rémond, lawyer for the little cousins of Nordahl Lelandais. “My clients are relieved that this trial is over, they reacted in a very dignified way, they are satisfied with this verdict, it is what they have been waiting for for more than three and a half years when the videos were discovered”also said the lawyer.
The Attorney General of the Republic of Grenoble, Jacques Dallest, estimated during a press briefing that“The Assize Court had to pronounce a sanction commensurate with the exceptional seriousness of this case.”
“It is a verdict in accordance with my requisitions and which seems to me in accordance with the gravity of the facts, declared Jacques Dallest. It is a heavy affair on the emotional level, painful, difficult, which went very well.
Jacques Dallest, Attorney General of the Republic of Grenobleat franceinfo
“You have noticed the dignity of the civil parties and the victims. It is a trial which was extremely well conducted by the president. We noted the attention of the jurors, three weeks is difficult for everyone”.
“It’s never easy to hear a life sentenceadded the public prosecutor. Even when you represent the prosecution, the public prosecutor, it is always difficult on a human level, but the Assize Court had to pronounce a sanction that is commensurate with the exceptional seriousness of this case. She was able to demonstrate that justice could be rendered in qualities of serenity, despite all the emotion that seizes the actors of the judicial procedure.
Nordahl Lelandais will not appeal his life sentence, announced his lawyer, Alain Jakubowicz. “It would have been unworthy to appeal this decision and to prolong the ordeal of Maëlys’ parents”explains the lawyer.
“Nordahl Lelandais will return to the anonymity he should never have emerged from.”
Me Alain Jakubowicz, lawyer for Nordahl Lelandaisat franceinfo
“There is nothing to say about this decisionhe continued. There is always an ounce of disappointment because it is hard to hear the word life. However, this decision is necessarily justified because it is the decision that was made.”