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It is a terrible tragedy which affected the small, uneventful village of Seine-Maritime, Saint Martin de l'If. A 6-year-old girl was found lifeless after the kidnapping alert launched by her mother's call. The Rouen public prosecutor recounts the chilling elements of this night of horror.
The forty-year-old suspected of having kidnapped and then killed his 6-year-old stepdaughter, Célya, on the night of Friday July 12 to Saturday July 13, 2024 in Seine-Maritime, was overcome by a "stroke of madness" before violently child, according to the victim's mother who had been in a relationship with the suspect for almost two years.
According to her statements reported by the Rouen prosecutor, her 42-year-old partner, who had "never been violent, brutally tackled Célya to the ground" after a couple's argument late Friday afternoon. “It was like a stroke of madness,” according to the mother, who is still hospitalized. She allegedly intervened and received "several stab wounds", causing "nine shallow wounds", declared Frédéric Teillet during a press conference. The mother then left their home to call the emergency services, who could only note the absence of the child and the stepfather when they arrived.
Disappearance of Célya: the terrible report of the forensic doctor
The kidnapping alert triggered Friday evening, the presence in the area of "200 soldiers" according to the gendarmerie, supported in particular by a helicopter, and the report of local residents, made it possible to find the suspect's vehicle a few hours later, "three kilometers away home" in a wooded area, as well as the lifeless body of little Célya, again according to the prosecution.
Frédéric Teillet specified that "the forensic doctor (...) was able to carry out an external examination which revealed facts of extreme violence, a major smashing of the child's skull to the back of the head which most likely caused his death. “Ecchymotic lesions” were also visible “all over the body,” he continued.
Suspect's car spotted in the night
“When we came home last night we saw a Golf parked there, at the end of the cul-de-sac, we said to ourselves, it’s strange, because we don’t see many people in the neighborhood,” he told AFP a neighbor Benoît (who did not wish to reveal his last name), who raised the alarm with his wife, "we saw the kidnapping alert, we made a connection with the Golf and we called the police" .
“They came in big teams, there were a lot of people in the street, and it was like that all evening,” he continued, “It was quite impressive (...) We didn’t know not the little one, but it affects us a lot. It was a complicated night.”
Célya's father-in-law armed with a knife but arrested without incident
The alleged perpetrator who "consumed cocaine several times during the day"** according to his partner, was arrested shortly after 6 a.m. Saturday morning while he was trying to leave the woods located near their home in Betteville, explained Stéphane Gauffeny, general of gendarmerie for the Normandy region. He was arrested, "always armed with a knife" but allowed himself to be "arrested without incident", added the prosecutor.
The suspect was taken into custody for attempted murder of a spouse, kidnapping of a minor under 15 years old and murder of a minor under 15 years old, explained the prosecutor. “On the personality of the alleged perpetrator, I can tell you that he is 42 years old, has been convicted five times since 2009 for offenses related to narcotics and has already been imprisoned for this type of offense ", detailed the Rouen prosecutor.
He also suffered from "behavioral disorders" but was "not known for acts of violence and the gendarmes have not received any complaints for previous domestic violence" in this couple who had been together for around two years, again according to the prosecution.
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