At the trial of Jean-Marc Reiser, prosecuted for the assassination of Sophie Le Tan in September 2018, on his 20th birthday, it was the turn of the civil parties to address the Bas-Rhin Assize Court , Wednesday, June 29. Parents, siblings, cousins and friends portrayed a young girl “benevolent”, “radiant”, determined to succeed. They described the anguish of the disappearance, then that of the months of research, until the discovery of his body in an Alsatian forest more than a year later.
Beyond the extreme pain of the relatives of the victim, the courtroom takes the measure of the gaping lack left by the absence of Sophie Le Tan in this family of Vietnamese origin who reside in Cernay, in Haut- Rhine, not far from Mulhouse. Through the testimonies, the portrait of a student who has become a pillar for her family emerges.
The father arrived at the end of the 1980s to flee the communist regime. His wife joined him in the early 1990s. A son was born, Philippe, then Sophie, in 1998. The father is a worker and for the Le Tan family, the academic success and future prospects of Sophie, who is in third year of eco-management license in 2018 are a source of pride.
“She was the one who kept me going”
According to the victim’s little sister, Sylvie, 17 at the time of the disappearance, “He was a cautious person, who paid attention to his company”. The day before his meeting with Jean-Marc Reiser, to visit an apartment he claims to be renting in Schiltigheim, the two sisters watch TV on Sophie’s bed. The latter has some doubts about the visit she must make the next day, her interlocutor not being very precise about the address.
“My sister was looking for accommodation, because she didn’t want to be a burden, and also to be closer to her work. » In order to finance her eco-management studies at the University of Strasbourg, the young woman took up a position as a night receptionist in a hotel in the Alsatian capital. She did ask for a room at the Crous, but her file was rejected.
The girl is then “the key to the family”, according to his eldest brother, for everything related to procedures and papers. The young man, 25, is shy when he addresses the court. He holds his hands so they don’t shake, the delivery is hesitant: “It was she who pushed me forward, I who am a little less comfortable in public, who did not know what I wanted to do. She was able to advise me and guide me. »
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