Affaire Maëlys et soupçons d'agressions sexuelles: l'avocate de la petite cousine de Nordahl Lelandais souhaite un seul procès
Maëlys case and suspicions of sexual assault: lawyer for the little cousin of Nordahl Lelandais wants a single trial
The lawyer for the alleged victim will file a formal appeal to link this case to the Maëlys case. In addition, she believes that a single trial for all the cases in which Lelandais is involved would be more consistent.
This is yet another charge against Nordahl Lelandais. Voices are being raised in favour of its inclusion in the case of the murder of the young Maëlys, for which the former dog handler is the main suspect, in the same way as in the case of the murder of Arthur Noyer. A little cousin of Lelandais, Charlotte*, has filed a complaint for sexual assault for alleged facts dating back to the beginning of 2017, when she was 14 years of age.
Her lawyer, Me Caroline Rémond, who was invited this Sunday on
Affaire Suivante, believes that the two cases should be linked.
"In my opinion, he is more of a sexual predator than a serial killer," she said.
For the time being, and despite the fact that Nordahl Lelandais is a common denominator, this new sexual assault case remains dissociated from the Maëlys case. The reason for this is the geographical distance between the two cases: Charlotte's accusations are said to have taken place in the east of France, while the case of the girl's murder is being investigated in Grenoble, in the Isère region.
Moreover, the investigation into Maëlys' death is almost complete, and the addition of a new file could delay a possible first trial. However, certain details of the alleged attack may well be included in order to better identify the suspect's personality.
"I wouldn't understand if the two cases were not linked and I'm going to make a request for a formal indictment. We shouldn't have to delay the trial (Maëlys, editor's note), but today we know that appeals in cassation have delayed the end of the investigation, and Nordahl Lelandais won't be tried before 2021, which gives us time to add this case," the lawyer said.
Lelandais was held in police custody for several hours on Friday after Charlotte's accusations, but has not been charged. "This should be done in the coming days," predicts our guest.
With regard to the idea of a single trial that would bring together all the cases in which Lelandais is involved, Me Caroline Rémond believes that it would be a "coherent project".
"The expertises are the same, the course is the same, the sentences will be the same, there's no point in having several trials. We should be able to join the Noyer case with the others, Charlotte's case as well, and finally the judges should decide to do only one trial," she says.
Still on air, Me Caroline Rémond explains that Charlotte has very clear memories of her assault, which took place only a few months before that of little Maëlys.
"It was the day of her father's funeral, she was smoking in secret, hiding from her mother. Nordahl Lelandais tells her that he's coming to smoke with her. He has a sexualized behaviour with her, he touches her chest and then her buttocks before insistently touching her chest again," she explains.
Threats are also mentioned. "If you say anything, I'll kill you," Lelandais is said to have told her shortly after the attack.
"He sends her several text messages that are inappropriate, we are talking about his young cousin, she's 14 years old. She's afraid he'll come looking for her, so she replies to him. She's walled in silence, there's a family
omerta. It is only when she discovers that other little cousins have been sexually assaulted that she decides to talk," according to the lawyer, who also defends the other two cousins in question.
The complaint that gave rise to this new case, and a potential indictment, was finally filed a few weeks ago.
*Changed first name
BBM
With video