A man with “strange” behavior, who then gave an extremely detailed confession. After the personalities of the accused and the victims, the court listened this Friday to the portrait of Hubert Caouissin, tried at the Loire-Atlantique assizes for the quadruple murder of his in-laws, drawn up by the investigators.
“He’s always been very cooperative, talkative. He spoke incessantly ”, explained at the bar one of the investigators of the judicial police about this first hearing in February 2017. An attitude rather rare when one is placed in police custody for murder. “He doesn’t show angst or worry” and “kept bouncing off this golden story of conflict”. And during searches “he constantly occupied the sound space”. “When we passed by the church he told us the history of the church and the castle … strange”, is still surprised today Laurent L.
In contrast to a discreet Hubert Caouissin, his ex-partner Lydie Troadec, prosecuted for “modification of the inventory of a crime and concealment of corpses”, has been described as “not speaking much”. “She is introverted (…). Hubert had to lead the family a bit, ”slips an investigator.
“Rare to collect such confessions”
On Friday afternoon, another investigator spoke of Hubert Caouissin’s second police custody and how he confessed in March 2017. He then gave meticulous descriptions of the crime scene and how the bodies were butchered in often unbearable terms.
The accused thus claims to have separated muscles, viscera, fat, skin and heads of his victims then to have burned them in the boiler of his farm or scattered in brambles. In total, the investigators will find 379 pieces of flesh, viscera and bones. “Psychologically, these days were hard to live with,” says the investigator. “It is rare to collect such confessions”, he also explains, questioned by the lawyer of the civil parties Me Cécile De Oliveira on the account “exceptionally long” of Hubert Caouissin with many details.
Monday, the interrogation on the facts
Regarding the crime scene, “the cleaning was complete, it was difficult to discover these traces, the walls were scraped”, also explained the investigator, in a courtroom frozen with terror. The investigator thus evoked a case where “neither the treasure, nor the skulls of the victims, nor the murder weapon” were found.
Monday, Hubert Caouissin should be questioned on the merits. “It will certainly be a difficult time for him (…). He will make it a point of honor to detail the account he will give of what happened before the tragedy and (…) I am convinced that he will be willing to give in detail the account of that night and of the days that followed ”, explained to journalists Me Thierry Fillion, lawyer of the accused.
Hubert Caouissin faces life imprisonment for this quadruple murder. The verdict is expected on July 8 or 9.