She spent more than four hours in front of a magistrate, before leaving the Le Mans judicial court with the status of assisted witness. Martine, the ex-wife of Dany Leprince, was heard on Wednesday by the investigating judge in charge of the case of this man convicted of a quadruple murder in 1994 in Sarthe.
Sentenced to life imprisonment in 1997, Dany Leprince was released on parole in 2012 and is demanding a review of his trial. At the time, he was found guilty of having brutally killed his brother, his sister-in-law and two of their daughters on September 5, 1994 in Thorigné-sur-Dué. Accused by his ex-wife and his daughter, Dany Leprince had only confessed to having killed his brother, before retracting. Since then, he has maintained his innocence.
Assisted witness status
It is on this thirty-year-old case that the ex-wife of the Sarthois was heard on Wednesday by the investigating judge responsible for a possible review of the trial, as revealed The Parisian. “At the end of this almost four-hour hearing, and in the absence of any element justifying an indictment, she was placed under the status of assisted witness,” they continued. “This confirms that there are no more charges against her today than there were yesterday,” commented the three lawyers of Dany Leprince’s ex-wife. The status of assisted witness is an intermediary between the simple witness and the person under investigation. “The assisted witness is the suspect with respect to whom evidence makes it likely that he may have participated in the commission of the offense,” according to Légifrance.
No fingerprints or genetics belonging to Dany Leprince were discovered at the scene of the crimes. A shoe print that did not match his size was also noted. Sentenced to life imprisonment in 1997, Dany Leprince did not benefit from an appeal trial because the assize court of appeal was only established in 2000 in France.