At the Assize Court of Isère
Armelle and Ludovic (first names) have “become experts in lies”. No choice. For four years, they kept hiding the truth from their child. Emilie, the goddaughter of Nordahl Lelandais. His godfather, “it was sacred”. She worshiped him. It’s simple, when he arrived at the house, the 4-year-old girl had “eyes only for him”. But “NL” hurt him. It was July 11, 2017 at 12:11 a.m. The man slipped into her room as she slept peacefully. He started caressing her while filming the scene.
The video, unbearable to watch, was screened this Friday before the Isère Assize Court, where the accused is on trial for the murder of Maëlys but also for the sexual assaults of Emilie and Marie, another small -cousin.
“He was made to believe that his godfather had gone abroad”
Emilie never knew anything until three weeks ago. Her parents “only lied to her to protect her”. “She didn’t understand why she no longer saw him, she kept asking for him,” says Armelle painfully. At the bar, his voice is choking. Her eyes fill with tears. Her lawyer comes to bring her a handkerchief before she resumes courageously and with dignity: “We made her believe that her godfather had gone abroad, she wanted to write to him. She didn’t understand why they didn’t give her the address. »
As the trial approached, Armelle and Ludovic decided to talk to him. “How did your daughter react?” asks Valérie Blain, the president of the court. “We explained to him that these were prohibited gestures. She started crying, she couldn’t understand how he hurt her. She said: But I love him. Today, Emilie has learned to “forget her godfather” and no longer talks about it at all.
“I feel a lot of disgust for what I did”
Sheepish, ashamed, embarrassed, he stares at the ground. Called to respond, he declares spontaneously, his head bowed: “I feel a great deal of disgust for what I have done. It’s disgusting “. For a few minutes, the accused will make an act of repentance: “It’s cowardly. I did it when she was asleep, I can’t do it on a little girl who’s awake”. And to answer the question that everyone is already anticipating: “The Araujo family is wondering if I did the same thing to Maëlys. No, I didn’t. I say it solemnly, I did not do it! »
Long cooked on his attraction to “little girls” dating from 2017, Lelandais struggles to answer. Stands up when the questions have become more disturbing. Sulks when the civil parties tackle him. But for once, he’s not hiding behind alcohol and drugs. “I am responsible, only me. But I do not know. I can’t explain it to myself,” he replies. Until then, he had set “barriers” for himself. Prohibiting himself, in his own words, from taking action and touching a child. But the dam broke. Why ? How? ‘Or’ What ? Again, he doesn’t know what to answer. “I work on this issue with psychiatrists in prison. They tell me that it may take time to understand. I would like it to go faster, “he says, adding that he had never “touched a child” before this year 2017.
Laurent Boguet, lawyer for Maëlys’ father, remains skeptical: “We are not learning anything new in summary. You talk a lot, but you don’t say much, ”he shoots. Stung, Nordahl Lelandais begins to sulk: “If that’s it, I’m silent”. Debates will resume Monday at 9 a.m.