Nordahl Lelandais sent back to the Isère assizes for the murder of little Maëlys. – Jean-Philippe KSIAZEK / AFP
The investigating judges on Tuesday ordered the dismissal of Nordahl Lelandais before the assizes of Isère for the “murder” of little Maëlys which occurred in August 2017, the Grenoble prosecutor’s office announced on Thursday. The magistrates followed the requisitions of the prosecution and returned the former soldier to the Assize Court for “the crime of murder of Maëlys De Araujo, preceded by the kidnapping and sequestration of the minor child of 15 years”, said Deputy Prosecutor Boris Duffau.
Nordhal Lelandais is also dismissed for “the offenses of sexual assault on two cousins of the interested party, minors of 15 years, and for possession and recording of child pornography images”. In May, he was sentenced by the Chambéry Assize Court to twenty years’ imprisonment for the murder of Arthur Noyer.
Lelandais claims to have “involuntarily” killed the little girl
Maëlys De Araujo, eight years old, had disappeared during the night of August 26 to 27, 2017 during a wedding in the village hall of Pont-de-Beauvoisin, in Isère. Quickly suspected, Nordahl Lelandais, a former military dog handler, had confessed, six months after his indictment, to have “involuntarily” killed the little girl.
The parties have ten days to appeal the arraignment order, which comes just under two months after the 30-year-old was convicted of the murder of Corporal Arthur Noyer. The magistrates did not finally wait for the Court of Cassation to rule on the maintenance in the file of a psychiatric expertise pointed out by the defense.
A request for the invalidity of a psychiatric expertise rejected
On April 27, the investigative chamber of the Grenoble Court of Appeal rejected a request for the invalidity of a psychiatric expert report by Nordahl Lelandais, which was filed in December in the file. Alain Jakubowicz, the 38-year-old accused’s lawyer, disputes the impartiality of an expert seized to carry out this latest psychiatric expertise, carried out at his request.
According to him, the psychiatrist in question, Paul Bensussan, should have declared himself incompetent to intervene because of his participation in 2018 on France 5, in a program devoted to his client after the latter had confessed to the “fatal blows” carried to Arthur Walnut. Two days after the judgment of the investigative chamber of the Grenoble court of appeal, Nordahl Lelandais’ lawyer lodged an appeal on points of law.