In the dock: Jonathann Daval, one of the best-known feminicide convicts in France. On the opposite bench: Isabelle and Jean-Pierre Fouillot, parents of Alexia whom their former son-in-law killed, their daughter Stéphanie and her husband Grégory Gay.
This Wednesday in Besançon, Jonathann Daval will be back in court, this time for slanderous denunciations. He was summoned to appear in court by his in-laws for slanderous accusations. “Jonathann Daval is criticized for his lies, for six months, when he accused Grégory Gay of having strangled Alexia with the complicity of his family,” recalls Jean-Hubert Portejoie, one of the plaintiffs’ lawyers.
Jonathann Daval, who admitted to being the author of the murder of his wife during the investigation, after showing the face of a grieving widower for three months in the midst of the #MeToo wave, retracted to everyone’s surprise on the 27th June 2018 during an audition. He then claimed that his brother-in-law had strangled Alexia at her parents’ home, trying to control her during a hysterical attack, and that the family had made “a secret pact to cover up the affair”.
It was finally on December 7, 2018 that he admitted to having lied, during a moving confrontation with his accusers. The intervention of his mother-in-law Isabelle Fouillot had been decisive. She had obtained a new confession by showing him a photo of the couple’s cat, Happy. “If you want us to forgive you, we have to understand,” she told him.
His “traumatized” ex-brother-in-law
Grégory Gay, the main complainant on Wednesday, “was traumatized by these false accusations, it is a question of principle, his honor must be definitively cleared, regardless of the sentence”, believes Me Portejoie, describing his client as “extremely combative”. The latter had filed a complaint for “slanderous denunciations” in 2018, but the prosecution had closed it without action, hence this summons to appear directly before the criminal court.
Lawyers will clash over whether or not they have the right to “lie” or “accuse” during a criminal investigation. According to Randall Schwerdorffer, lawyer for Jonathann Daval, this question has already been evacuated during the investigation and the assize trial. But Me Portejoie believes that the Assize Court rightly considered that Jonathann Daval’s accusations against Grégory Gay constituted “specific” harm different from the murder of Alexia.
Damages claimed
“Isabelle Fouillot said at the end of the murder trial that she wanted to turn the page, but that was not true,” continues Me Schwerdorffer. “The only logic of this trial is to ask for as much money as possible from Jonathann Daval: the amounts speak for themselves, if it had been a question of principle, they would have asked for a symbolic euro.” The defendant faces five years in prison, but his sentence will in any case be confused with his conviction for murder. And his in-laws are demanding 60,000 euros in damages, including 30,000 euros for Grégory Gay, 10,000 euros for Alexia’s sister and 10,000 euros for each of the parents.
Jonathann Daval strangled his wife Alexia on the night of October 27 to 28, 2017 at their home in Gray-la-Ville (Haute-Saône). The next day, he transported her body to a wood before setting it on fire and raising the alarm, claiming that his wife had not returned from her jogging. Alexia’s body was found two days later after extensive citizen searches.