Two men and a woman accused of torturing a 40-year-old man in Cognac in 2019 were sentenced to life in prison by the Charente Assize Court on Tuesday. They were found guilty of the torture and barbaric murder of 42-year-old Gerald Matifas.
Two more persons found guilty of not charging the crime were sentenced to 18 and 24 months in prison. “It’s hard to put into wordsof the torture inflicted on the victim, Solicitor General Sophie O’Hana said after a week of hearings on Monday.
“manipulative”, “ultra-violent”
Before being killed, 43-year-old La Rochelle resident Gerald Matifas was beaten, tortured, raped and mutilated between April 8 and 10, 2019, at Cathy Bichon’s apartment in Cognac after an evening they had met a few days earlier. Facebook with his former companion David Klein and one of their acquaintances, Philippe Laroche. His body was found two weeks later in the Charente Maritime Forest, partially charred, with his penis severed. The motive for the crime, which occurred amid heavy alcohol and drug use and social misery, remains unclear, between allegations of rape and money. Especially since during the debates that started on October 10, Cathy Bichon (41 years old today), David Klein (38 years old) and Philippe Laroche (30 years old) passed the ball.
Psychiatric experts have described the first as “manipulative“where”leader“, the second as “cowardly” As well as “degenerate“, the third as “ultra strong“. But the attorney general said he was convinced of their shared responsibility. “They beat her one by one, rape her one by one, urinate on her one by one“, he shot during his indictment, believing that each of the three defendants sharedintent to kill“:”Together they decided to end it“.
“Monsters don’t exist”
“Above all, Gerald Matifas must not be forgotten. But you should not make Yusuf Fofana out of them.Cathy Bichon’s attorney, Lionel Bethune de Moreau, introduced the jury, alluding to the Barbarian gang case. In their defense filings, attorneys Philippe LaRoche and David Klein cast Cathy Bichon as the instigator of the violence that spread to the victim.
“He will convince them that skinning Mr. Mathifas is absolutely necessary“Véronique Chabrier, the lawyer for the first, confirmed, and for the second, his partner Eva Dion intervened, a woman provoked.”who absolutely hates men“. “Being smarter doesn’t make him a manipulator or a leader” replied Marine Gautreau, another adviser to Cathy Bichon. “You don’t have to judge monsters, you don’t have to judge animals, you have to judge men. Monsters don’t exist, facts are real,” Me Dion was presented to the jury, disagreeing with the idea of the three main defendants having the same conviction.
“It is necessary to separate the sentences, the debates made it possible to reveal the concept of hierarchy between the three defendants;Virginie Taillad, another David Klein attorney, quipped. “You have in the cage three lost people marked with regret, who have our full place in our society, on a day you will appreciate;– concluded Lionel Bethune de Moro before the verdict. But the jury followed the demands of the attorney general, namely life imprisonment.
Source: Le Figaro
