Sylvie Leclerc with seating for killing her abusive partner – Ouest-France

“This gesture is that of an abused woman for 35 years, a liberating gesture of survival” . The act in question is a gun fired at close range. That of Sylvie Leclerc, 54, brought against her partner Gerard Schahan while sleeping in the marital bed. The man, a ripper, 58, died from a bullet in the chest a night of May 2012 in the apartment the couple located Jarville-la-Malgrange, near Nancy (Meurthe-et-Moselle).

A psychological hold, not physical For the neighbors, with whom she fled soon after, it will justify his act by saying that he was harassing her. Nathalie Tomasini, his lawyer says his client was under the influence of his companion. During the hearings, the fifties, who chained precarious, had described an angry companion, jealous and impulsive, who insulted, humiliated and forced to lead a secluded life.

Although this grip was not physical but psychological, the present case, according to the lawyer, similarities to another folder she also defended me Janine Bonaggiunta : to Jacqueline Wild 68 years, sentenced in December to 10 years’ imprisonment. The latter was sentenced for murdering her abusive husband by the foundations of the Loir-et-Cher, before being granted a partial pardon from the president.

“she’s locked herself in the process” “the common thread between the two cases is the phenomenon of influence and the fact that the transition to the act is triggered by a stimulus that revives the trauma experienced in years “, said the lawyer yet. “She did not suffer daily violence but has suffered sexual violence. Those we do not speak. And everything was going in camera “, for his part, stressed Bonaggiunta me.

A version that is not to the liking of the civil party. “No, that is not the case of battered women, but the trial of a woman who killed her husband in cold blood” , added shortly before the trial, Me Rui Manuel Pereira, who is the brother of Gerard Schahan. “This is a fragile woman and under grip, but it was not because of her companion, she locked herself in the process” , still pleading lawyer the civil party.

Sylvie Leclerc suffering from diminished mental Short hair and brown, dressed in a blue sequined top and wearing a pendant crucifix, the accused hailed on Monday morning, with few close emotion from the support, crying in the room.

Several expert concluded that diminished mental of the accused at the time facts, leaving the Assize Meurthe-et-Moselle court may reduce the punishment of life imprisonment to a term of 30 years imprisonment. The verdict is expected on Thursday.