The Assize Court of Isère on Friday sentenced Nordahl Lelandais to life imprisonment with a 22-year security sentence for the murder and kidnapping of little Maëlys on August 27, 2017. Nordahl Lelandais also was sentenced to a ten-year socio-judicial follow-up and a treatment order. A verdict that satisfies the lawyers for the civil parties. who welcomed this sentence, the maximum incurred by the accused, with relief. “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.”
“Justice has passed”
For Fabien Rajon, lawyer for Maëlys’ maternal family, “it is a satisfaction, justice has passed, in a serene, implacable, intransigent and impartial manner in a state of law, in front of crimes of such abjection. Justice must not be weak and it has shown strength , what is right is strong and what is strong is right, this verdict honors our justice. I was especially proud to defend this family, of Colleen, an exemplary teenager, to defend a worthy mother and fighting a great lady, a lioness, here is a French family, good people, who ask for nothing happy and proud to be at their side for four and a half years.”
“I was particularly proud to defend this family” – Fabien Rajon
– Mona Blanchet
Laurent Boguet, Joachim De Araujo’s lawyer, also approved the verdict: “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 Nordahl Lelandais.” It was “an expectation“for years for Maëlys’ father.
The court took into account the dangerousness of the accused
At the exit of the courtroom, Yves Crespin, lawyer of the associations “The voice of the child” and “The blue child” welcomed the decision of the court of assizes. “It is a decision that we were waiting for, it is in accordance with the file, the way Nordahl Lelandais appeared. The Assize Court took into account the dangerousness of the accused. He will have the possibility of requesting his release parole in 17 years given the period of pre-trial detention and it will be up to the sentencing judge to assess. He said he was going to do some work on him, I hope he will do it seriously.”
“The Assize Court took into account the dangerousness of the accused.” -Yves Crespin
Nordahl Lelandais has never given up on the sexual motive
Caroline Rémond, the lawyer for two couples, the parents of two little cousins sexually assaulted by Nordahl Lelandais, in turn expressed relief. “My clients reacted in a very dignified way. It is the judicial truth, what they have been waiting for for more than three and a half years. They are relieved that this trial is over. If Nordahl Lelandais were to appeal, it would be a new trial and further suffering. The parents of his little cousins hope that he will not appeal (he decided not to appeal, editor’s note). The security of 22 years does not mean that he will be released in 22 years. It will be scrutinized extremely thoroughly. We tried to get him to say what he didn’t want to say, but he kept kicking. We were waiting for explanations, we believed in it a little bit but we saw nothing coming.
“Obviously, he knew very well that if he recognized this sexual motive, he would have incurred real life imprisonment” – Caroline Rémond