The trial of François Vergniaud ends this Thursday, October 31 in Nantes. He is accused of the rape and murder of Céleste, 15, committed in August 2020. On this last day of the trial, it is time for indictment and pleadings, the verdict is expected at the end of the day.
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At the end of the day on Wednesday, it is in a thin voice that François Vergniaud recounts the events of August 20, 2020.
“I am not in this street by chance”, he admits. Then, it’s the story of an ambush.
Céleste passes him in the street, he asks her for help to carry a package to his apartment.
In a story interspersed with silences, he tells how she tries to struggle when he grabs her. He ties her up then rapes her.
“I’m really confused from this point on”he said. “I am completely disconnected and I no longer have a sense of time.”
His memories are often hazy. However, on the big day, there is no doubt about the preparation.
He carried out a reconnaissance two days before and prepared bleach to erase his traces. To the president’s question “Were you alone?, that day”, he responds immediately “oui “.
“Were you masked?”, “I had the Covid mask”.
Perhaps the beginning of an answer for the civil party. Because on Wednesday morning, Céleste’s parents questioned the version given by François Vergniaud.
“My daughter was fearful, she would never have followed a stranger, even less someone like him with his sinister face”explains his father.
Before getting there, François Vergniaud recounts a spiral that began in 2015 where he plunged into pornography and prostitution, just one year after his release from prison for the twelve rapes and attempted rapes of which he had already been found guilty.
READ ALSO. Tried for having raped and killed a teenager, the trial of a repeat offender opens in Nantes this Friday, October 25
François Vergniaud faces life imprisonment.
With Sophie Wahl
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