Called to the bar as a witness, Alexandra, the half-sister of Nordahl Lelandais, six years his senior, tells the Court of a protective and helpful little brother. “He came to paint my apartment or help me move. It is certain that now he will no longer be able to help me do all that.” loose, with a black humor, this 45-year-old woman. Very short hair, small glasses, at the helm, she kept her coat and her big scarf around her neck, as if she had only one desire, to leave of this courthouse.
Denial
She continues, in a voice not always very audible: “When I took my independence, we lost sight of each other a little, but for me, he was a nice boy. We discovered the dark aspects of my brother in the media, since the case.”
The president also questions her about a telephone tap in which Alexandra wonders what “screwed up” in her family to get there. “And yet, we were raised the same. We had a happy childhood. My father was often absent but my mother was there for us. I do not know what happened” she points out.
I will always be there for him -Alexandra, the half-sister of Nordahl Lelandais
And she adds: “_ I continue to see him in prison. We were able to benefit from a weekend in family life unit, it is better than the visiting room to find each other. I know that he has done horrible things but we have to live with that.He’s still my brother and I don’t see him as a monster. He knows that his life now is prison, he is in acceptance.”
His mother’s favorite
Then, it is up to the defendant’s mother, Christiane Lelandais to take the stand. She remembers a gifted child, who could speak at age two and was successful in sports. “I did not carry my son with the skies but it was a reality. He loved animals, nature, fishing, drawing. He was a quiet kid.”
She finds excuses for him to explain his repeated work stoppages. “_It’s because he hurt his back, or his Achilles tendon.” Twhile affirming “Maybe we should have kicked him in the ass, when he was a teenager and dropped out of school in eighth grade.” _
The tipping point
The Advocate General questions him. “Madam, you have testified before an assize court twice. how did your son get here? What turned him into a crime?
Christiane Lelandais, in her pale pink coat, reflects and says: “It’s because of this crap, the drugs, the alcohol. I was nursing my very ill husband, who has since died, and I did not see that Nordhal was ill.”
Master Jakubowicz, the defense lawyer, then launches to him: “Being the mother of Nordahl Lelandais, what does that mean?
And there, Christiane Lelandais cracks: “It means you’re rejected everywhere, I’m being insulted, I can’t even go shopping or going to the cinema, I no longer have the right to live, just the right to die.”
In 2017, I was a wanderer -Nordhal Lelandais
Questioned by the president before she suspended the hearing, Lelandais repeated, as he had said in Chambéry, last May, for the murder of Corporal Noyer that in 2017, “he was a wanderer. My life was falling apart,“ because of alcohol and drugs and a chaotic love life. While getting annoyed that the questions asked of his mother are too harsh. “She’s a mother. She loves her child. Only I know why I did this.”
Throughout this first day, Maëlys’ parents and loved ones remained stoic. At one point, Jennifer held the framed photo of her daughter in her arms, as she rocked her.
This Tuesday, continuation of the hearing of witnesses, including the brother of the accused, Sven, whom the Court forced to come.