2023-12-18 14:46:02
MISCELLANEOUS FACTS – It was a long day of interrogation, endured by Monique Olivier, the ex-wife of Michel Fourniret, Thursday December 14. The challenge ? Find out a little more about the last hours of little Estelle Mouzin and collect elements that would allow us to find the child’s body in order to offer her a burial. The hopes of her family were largely disappointed, and beyond a possible ill will which the accused denies, the direction of the debates by the president of the assize court, Didier Safar, is singled out. The civil parties still had the satisfaction of hearing Monique Olivier reiterate her confession: she admits to being complicit in the kidnappings and murders of Marie-Angèle Domèce, Joanna Parrish and Estelle Mouzin
To question Monique Olivier, “you have to be a bit of a psychologist”, recommends his lawyer Maître Richard Delgenes.
“Psychologist” is not how we can describe the interrogation conducted by the president who constantly interrupted the accused, reminding her of the lies she has told over the years and his contradictory statements. So, Monique Olivier largely sticks to the positions she has adopted since the start of the trial, she “does not know, no longer knows, regrets, would like to help find the body of the little girl” and self-flagellates by calling herself a monster.
However, if we let her speak, and we ask her for details, Fourniret’s accomplice gives them.
Monique Olivier claims that her companion sequestered Estelle in a house in Ville-sur-Lumes, inherited from an aunt and uninhabited. The day after the kidnapping, the killer allegedly called his wife to come and watch the child during the hours he had to go to work. He was a supervisor in a municipal school…
“Not very lively”
When the second assessor asks the accused for details about her meeting with Estelle, Olivier speaks. The child, sequestered in the attic, is dressed in a red sweater and blue pants. She describes a sad little girl, crying, “not very lively” for a child of her age, sitting on a mattress on the floor. Contrary to her previous statements, she affirms that the child is neither restrained nor gagged, and considers that Fourniret may have drugged her. She claims not to have administered any narcotics herself.
Olivier explains that she is shocked by the young age of the victim, and angry at her companion who has set his sights on this “beautiful little girl”. However, she is not going to do anything to free her even though she is aware of the fact. that this inaction condemns the child to certain death.
The house, without electricity, was freezing on January 9, 2003. It was -10° outside, but the criminal did not have the reflex to try to cover the little girl either. At most, she gives him a glass of water and takes him to the bathroom when Estelle asks. She doesn’t feed her.
When the little one asks for her mother, Olivier lies. She tells him that she will see her again soon. However, she knows that Estelle is living her last hours… She claims that these are the only exchanges she has had with the child. She explains that she went down to clean on the ground floor of a house that looked like a dump. The victim’s youth would make her uncomfortable.
Me Didier Séban, Éric Mouzin’s lawyer, calculates that the jailer stayed with Estelle for several hours. Olivier arrived at the beginning of the afternoon and Fourniret could only be back around 8 p.m. Monique Olivier, however, repeats that she remembers only staying there for two hours, and that it was daytime when she returned home, to Sart-Custinne, leaving her husband alone with his prey. It doesn’t stick. On January 10 at 8 p.m., it was dark. However, no one tries to explore this point during the hearing.
“It’s over”
When Fourniret joins his wife at the marital home, he tells her “It’s over”. For Monique Olivier, this means that Estelle is dead. She assumes he strangled her. Nothing in fact allows him to assert this.
The next day, the infernal couple returns to the scene of the crime. Olivier claims to have noticed that the child is dead, but to have barely looked at her because the sight of corpses would make her uncomfortable. Contrary to her previous statements, she says today that the killer did not rape the child who was still wearing his clothes when they arrived at the scene. She also claims not to see any traces of beatings.
The girl’s body is wrapped in a shower curtain, then transported by car to a wood. Monique Olivier is instructed to stay in the car while Fourniret goes to bury Estelle. When she comes out despite everything, the killer gets angry. The court does not have the curiosity to ask her the reasons she gives for this annoyance.
“Fourniret had to move the body”
Olivier maintains that it was in this small wood that she took the investigators. If the excavations yielded nothing, it is undoubtedly because “Fourniret had to move the body” later, she speculates. She continues to forcefully assert that she does not know where Estelle’s remains can be found today..
At the end of the afternoon, the civil parties’ lawyers insisted that the hearing be suspended, and that an additional day be devoted to questioning Michel Fourniret’s ex-wife. Everyone is tired, starting with the accused, aged 75, who gets angry and reveals nothing. The victims’ families have been waiting for this trial for 20 years, their representatives emphasize. The president of the Assize Court refuses. Maître Corinne Herrmann, lawyer for victims’ families, gets angry. She explains her discomfort at having to question Olivier at the start of the evening, after a trying day. “We should have postponed until tomorrow morning,” reproaches the lawyer. “This does not show respect for the civil parties, nor for the defense. These are not worthy conditions”she gets carried away.
President Safar remains firm in his positions.
“We are disappointed for the first ‘Cold Case’ trial, I must say (…). We were expecting something else”deplores Me Séban.
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