“I just slapped him,” said Manuel Bellanger during his trial at the Chartres court. “Given the traces on his face, it must have been a big slap,” remarks the presiding judge. “Ah yes, maybe well,” retorted the defendant.
At 25, the young marginal did not have an easy childhood. His mother, Françoise Bellanger, was sentenced in 2016 to 20 years’ imprisonment by the Assize Court of Eure-et-Loir.
“He told me he was going to kill me”
She was found guilty, with Jérémy Masson, her companion at the time, of the murder of one of their companions in misfortune, of 203 stab wounds. As for his father, he died in 2019. Since then, the young man has been wandering between Illiers-Combray and Chartres.
Not very tall, a bit chubby, wearing thick messy hair ending in a ponytail, and his face adorned with a beard in shades of red-blond, he doesn’t seem very interested in his trial.
He seems more absorbed by the notes that his lawyer consults, seated below the defendants’ box, which he tries to read over his shoulder.
His ex-companion filed a complaint for three acts of violence, on October 10, November 23 and March 22.
“She made me believe that we were still together, justifies the young man. So when I saw her with another boy, I saw red. I had a punch in the nose. »
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This October 10, he leads the young woman into an isolated passage, in Illiers-Combray, and he strikes: “I hate that people make fun of me. It was to put it back in place! “A statement which, to see the expressive gestures of the judges, does not really seem to be to their liking. On November 23, new blows are denounced by his ex-companion. The scene would have taken place at the Chartrain foster home, where the couple, at the time, was staying.
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“I use him as a punching bag. He takes it out on me”
“He didn’t appreciate a boy coming up to me and telling me he thought I was cute,” the woman said when she filed a complaint. “I use him as a punching bag. He unwinds on me. »
Again, the marks left little doubt about the reality of the violence she allegedly suffered. But, in court, the man offers another explanation.
“I slapped her and then she freaked out. She left in fury, and she broke her head against the wall, ”he says, adding: “She really had a blast. The last scene took place on March 22, in a park, in Illiers-Combray. That day, he had an appointment with her to return his things. Once again, the meeting goes badly.
According to the woman’s statement, she was beaten, thrown to the ground and kicked again: “He told me he was going to smash me and kill me. “She also denounces the theft of her mobile phone by her ex-companion. In court, he minimizes, and assures him: “It is relentlessness against me! »
He denies the theft of the phone. However, the motive was limited to Brittany. It is precisely there that Manuel Bellanger went to go green for a while, before being arrested.
“There are people who wanted me. I think they stole the phone and followed me to Brittany to blame me for the theft,” he said. A thesis that did not convince the judges.
The man is sentenced to four years in prison, including three years. He is kept in detention.
Jacques Joannopoulos
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