Tried for the murder of his partner Aurélie Vaquier, Samire Lymani strongly protested his innocence on Monday. On the eve of the verdict of the jurors of the Hérault Assize Court, where he risks life imprisonment, his guilt is however “no doubt” for the civil parties.
While he has had little opportunity to speak since the opening of his trial on January 9 in Montpellier, this 41-year-old man was questioned at length on Monday. Since the discovery of his partner’s body on April 7, 2021, at the marital home in Bédarieux (Hérault), he has been the main suspect in this case. The remains of Aurélie Vaquier, 38, were found in a concrete sarcophagus, under the terrace. He has since been placed in preventive detention. ” I did not do anything. Should I make up a story to please you? But you are crazy! », Launched the former soldier and truck driver, divorced father of two children.
Left without the cat she adored
According to computer expertise, the young woman’s last “certified” proof of life is a message to a friend dated January 25, in which she indicated that she wanted to go and recharge her batteries for a few days in the countryside. By doing this, “Aurélie signed her death warrant,” said Maître Félix Allary, one of the lawyers for the civil parties, at the end of the hearing. “Because Samire [Lymani]he cannot accept being left,” he added.
The accused, for his part, left to return to his family on January 28 around 8:30 a.m. According to him, Aurélie had just woken up. The following days, “since she had gone to write a book,” he was not particularly worried. Nor even when he returned home on February 6, when he noticed that she had not returned and that she had left without her cat, which she adored.
“From where she is, Aurélie must be making fun of you”
On February 15, he sent a copy of the message he received to Urélie’s brother and sister-in-law, but made them believe that it dated the day before and not the end of January. And he only went to report his disappearance to the gendarmerie, at their insistence, on February 23. According to experts, she could have died on January 25.
In court, Samire Lymani argues that his partner must have been killed by “one or more unknown persons” during his absence, from January 28 to February 6. “As soon as Aurélie’s body was found at your home, everything accused you. But then there is such an outpouring of lies and contradictions that there is no longer any room for the slightest doubt,” replied the second lawyer for the civil parties, Jean-Charles Teissedre.
“Can we imagine a thief entering Aurélie’s house while she is in her pajamas and slippers, killing her and then taking the time to pour a concrete slab? It’s completely absurd, he insists. Where she is, Aurélie must be making fun of you.”