Montpellier: a woman accused of having massacred a nonagenarian with dumbbell blows judged at the assizes

“I went to this gentleman’s house, I rang the bell, no one answered. I went into the kitchen, I was going to leave and in the half-light, there was something on the floor… I saw the feet, the bloody body and head, it’s a shock… “.

The chilling testimony of a delivery man

At the Assises de l’Hérault, this meal delivery man recounts the horror when he went to the home of André Alexanko, 91, massacred at his home, on December 10, 2018 in Montpellier. Then the court broadcasts the photos of the crime scene in heavy silence. Part of the nonagenarian’s family is out, jurors look away when they see the head completely disfigured by the blows of a dumbbell.

The accused has long denied

In the box, Catherine Masclaux has her head bowed and her long dark brown hair hides her face during this unbearable sequence of images. How did this 51-year-old woman with somewhat ingenuous words, with a resigned and sometimes childish voice, come to this?

She had long denied in front of the police, before admitting, three months after the homicide, to have attacked her friend of 30 years and 40 years his senior. But why have he smashed his head, the coroner having counted 17 blows? Montpellier will explain this Thursday on this outburst of ultraviolence but already, the court has sketched the portrait of this woman with a dented life course and captivated by beliefs, Jehovah’s Witness, fan of suras and especially of mediums and clairvoyants …

Seers and marabouts

“I have always been a failure”, repeats the one who, as an adulterous child, did not know her biological father, CRS and robber, who allegedly committed suicide in prison. Treated by “bastard”, hardship at school, she gives up studies, makes a living as a secretary, often unemployed, she accumulates unfortunate adventures that turn into paid relationships when she has no more money. But she can count on André with whom she maintains complex relations, at the same time father, confidant, friend and sometimes lover. Would he have disrespected her too much for her to unload on him the frustration of a lifetime?

She kept asking the nonagenarian for money, however. To regain a lost love by paying rubies on marabouts and clairvoyants to bring it back and against the black magic that the sister of this ex-companion would have exercised against him.

“To this gentleman, you put sleeping pills in his glass, it’s dangerous!”, thunders President Haye. “I know it’s not good, but he left me”, answers the accused. Verdict Friday.