A man who almost killed his wife by hitting her with a wooden board to better start a new life with his mistress was recorded without his knowledge by his surveillance camera.
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The summary of the attack presented in court during the recent guilty plea of Pierre Berrard, 56, is enough to send shivers down the spine.
“Stopped! Stopped! Why are you hitting me?” says the victim after being heavily hit in the head on February 3, 2022.
She was quietly reading the news on her electronic tablet when the first shot was given.
Her husband of 24 years stands beside her, looking enraged, his lips pursed, a 2×4 style stick in his hand.
He hits her again, throws her to the floor, lifts her to a height of a foot by grabbing her wrists and slams her to the ground.
Injuries to the victim of Pierre Berrard, following the attack that occurred on February 3, 2022 in Saint-Basile-le-Grand.
Courtesy
She pretends to have lost consciousness, in vain.
Sound captured
She begs him to stop, he continues. The blows are so violent that she is convinced her skull will explode.
He also tries to break his neck, doing a maneuver like we often see in action movies.
He did not know it at the time, but the entire horror scene was recorded by a surveillance camera installed in his residence in Saint-Basile-le-Grand. We do not see the attack – Berrard took the trouble to change the camera angle a few minutes before – but the sound is captured.
The woman is heard begging him to spare her: “I am not ready to die.” He apologizes, while attacking her.
“If you kill me, you will go to prison,” she told him.
The statement struck Pierre Berrard.
Courtesy
He admits to her that he wants to sell the house, pay off the mortgage. Business is not good for him. A building inspector, he has seen many contracts slip through his hands due to the sale of homes without inspections which have increased since the start of the pandemic.
Nothing to help, his wife suffered from cancer. She was doomed, but miraculously survived. Medical expenses have compromised the family’s finances.
Negotiating for survival
It should be noted that the couple owns rental properties, all in the name of Madame, and with mortgage loan insurance in the event of her death.
On the recording, the man is heard admitting to having a mistress. He wants to rebuild his life. But he doesn’t want to divorce, to spare their children. On the other hand, if she had an accident, the “transition for him would be good,” he told her.
It was ultimately by negotiating with him that she managed to get out of it. She gives him her blessing to start a new life, promises that she will have the buildings transferred to her name.
Pierre Berrard was finally arrested, then charged with attempted murder.
His trial was scheduled to begin Monday, but he ultimately pleaded guilty. He escaped by admitting to having engaged in serious assault which could have put the life of his victim in danger.
The public prosecutor intends to request a long detention sentence, assured the prosecutor in the case, Me Daphnée Blackburn, adding that the facts recognized by Berrard are “extremely serious”.