The first to speak on Monday afternoon was Jennifer Cleyet-Marel. Maëlys’ mother had requested permission to put a large portrait of her daughter in front of the desk and a photo of the child, facing the accused.
The song of Vitaa and Slimane, Maëlys
She read a letter in which she addressed her missing daughter: “My chick, my warrior, you would have become a great lady! And to bring it back to life, Jennifer made a little video editing, in the form of a slideshowwith in the background, the song that Vitaa and Slimane wrote for Maëlys.
Moments of past happiness, forever gone, parade before the eyes of the public and those of the jurors. Heart touching. The little girl, whom all the witnesses have described as cheerful and so lively, then appears in this courtroom with such a heavy atmosphere.
The accused prefers to bow his head so as not to face the smiles of Maëlys, at all the ages of his short life, a life he admits having taken away, one night in August 2017.
Revive Maëlys, the time of a video
And all of a sudden it’s as if Maëlys were there, in front of us, making funny faces, laughing with her big sister or performing acrobatics. We see her on vacation, at home and even in the little white dress she wore for the wedding of her mother’s cousin, in Pont de Beauvoisin.
The emotion also seizes the public when he sees her dancing, filmed by Colleen, his eldest, who also cried out to him of her love and the lack that her absence had left in her heart.
Joachim, his “dad lost at sea, trying to keep his head above water,“as he describes himself, will also testify to the drama he has been living for four and a half years. He is unrecognizable. He lost 25 pounds, “be the weight of his daughter, who was torn from him“ points out his lawyer, Maitre Boguet.
– Veronique Pueyo
He is so lost that he leaves the bar, forgetting to ask for another video to be shown. His daughter and his ex-wife are quick to point this out to him.
If I had known, I would have kept it with me – Joachim
And the Court looks at this video shot the evening of the drama, where we see the wedding guests, dancing and laughing. Maëlys is among them. Alive for a few more hours.
“If I had known” his father said. “When she asked me to take her on my shoulders, I was tired, I said no. She went back to play. If I had known, I would have kept it with me.“
And, like an echo, his mother remembers: “The last time I saw her was at dessert time. She didn’t like it too much, so she went back to having fun. If I had known, I would have kept her with me.”