An Assize Court, here in Lyon (illustration). – ALLILI MOURAD / SIPA
- Pierre-Olivier Labastida, 32, was sentenced Wednesday to 17 years in prison for the murder of his young wife, originally from Mexico.
- The body of the victim was found at the bottom of his building in Croix-Rousse, one evening in August 2018.
- The husband had first mentioned a suicide before confessing, two days later, then pleading the thesis of the accidental fall.
A sentence of 17 years of imprisonment was pronounced Wednesday by the Assize Court of the Rhône against Pierre-Olivier Labastida, 32, for the murder of his Mexican wife, found dead at the foot of their building in Lyon.
The court also sentenced the accused, who remained impassive to the wording of the verdict, to a ban on carrying a weapon for a period of fifteen years, and a five-year term of ineligibility.
“There was a homicidal desire, animated by anger,” said Advocate General Philippe de Monjour, who had requested a sentence of 18 years imprisonment, earlier on, asking the jury not to follow the thesis of the ‘accused. The latter invokes violence without intention to kill, which occurred during an argument.
On August 11, 2018, in the Croix-Rousse district, the body of Jessica Astorga Carballo, 26, was found in the early morning in a pool of blood directly above the marital apartment.
Former drug addict, the young husband had tried to make up the scene in suicide, affirming to the police officers that his wife had voluntarily thrown herself out of the window of the third floor.
“Affective ambush”
A version that he had changed 48 hours later at the police station where he had gone, confessing to an argument in the night with the victim whom he would have wanted to “calm”, then would have “mastered” by squeezing his neck. He would then have transported the body, in his words, before tipping it into the void.
“The moment of strangulation lasted a long time,” insisted the attorney general, recalling that the author squeezed the victim’s neck for at least three minutes, according to the estimate of forensic scientists.
The day before the events, the couple had gone to the home of the young man’s parents, in Valencia, to discuss divorce after several months of marital difficulties. The accused, a computer trainer, who denied any homicidal intent, described an unstable and aggressive young woman, blackmailing suicide.
“She had fallen into an emotional ambush,” replied the lawyer for the victim’s family, Me Raphaël Malleval, deploring that “the accused spent his time denigrating the victim, as if it was she the responsible for his own death ”.