A 32-year-old woman appears before the Rhône Assize Court for the assassination of her grandfather. In August 2020, she set fire to her medical bed, calling it an act of “euthanasia”.
The jurors of the Assize Court will have to decide: is this a case of murder or that of a murder against a backdrop of distress of a loved one at the end of life? Emilie G. appears this Wednesday October 2 and Thursday October 3 before the court for having caused the death, in August 2020, of her grandfather, a bedridden nonagenarian and at the end of his life. “For me, I euthanized my grandfather,” the young 32-year-old mother will repeat during the investigation.
On August 23, 2023, it was Manuel A.’s daughter who discovered her 95-year-old father on his medical bed, his body half charred. For four years, the nonagenarian, who had been living in Spain, returned to live with his daughter and son-in-law in Saint-Laurent-de-Mure, in the suburbs of Lyon, following a bad fall. The man, around whom three caregivers take turns, has not walked for several years. The one whose angry character is described spends most of his time in the fetal position.
That day, the victim’s daughter and her son-in-law were gone for the day, they accepted lunch at the latter’s sister’s house. A rare outing for the couple who decline each invitation due to Manuel D’s state of health. When they return in the early evening, the smoke detector sounds, black smoke comes from the nonagenarian’s bedroom, located on the ground floor. ground floor. Immediately, the couple thinks of a malfunction in the medical bed’s electrical system.
Fuel in the room
The investigators quickly ruled out the accidental trail, fuel was discovered in the room, “minimal” doses, at the pump of the anti-decubitus mattress, the bedding, the duvet and the mattress pad and on the floor . The investigations, and in particular the analysis of video surveillance images and telephone demarcation, reveal inconsistencies with the hearing of the victim’s granddaughter, a young mother of 28 years old, at the time, who lives in close to his parents.
At his home, during a search, a gasoline can bearing his DNA was found. In police custody, the young woman admits the facts. She first rebels when faced with questions from the gendarmes accusing her of having killed her grandfather. How was this mother, a foreign language teacher, described as “kind, helpful and generous”, able to carry out the act?
“When does it stop”
She will tell that her grandfather, who raised her until she was 6 years old, who sometimes called her “my daughter”, who had lived with her parents for ten years before leaving for Spain and then come back, told him he wanted to finish it. She returns to this sentence that he would have said: “Don’t forget to tell your mother that she is giving me the pill so that I go to sleep and never wake up again.”
A few weeks before his death, Manuel D., then unable to get up, eat alone or wash himself, said to his granddaughter: “When does this stop, I can’t take it anymore.” She will also tell about this time when she discovered her grandfather soiled. “I took a slap that day… he was in such a state!…”
“I told myself that he wanted to end it, maybe not that way, but he wanted to leave,” she will still explain to investigators.
“Projection of violence”
This August 23, 2020, on the road to McDonald’s with her two children, she stopped at her parents’ house, whom she knew were absent. She describes having opened the door to her grandfather’s bedroom, having heard that the latter was sleeping, having thrown gasoline on the mattress inflator, having been looked for a sheet of paper, having put the fire and threw it in the bedroom, before closing the door and running away. “For me, what matters is that my grandfather died as he wanted, without suffering, in his sleep.” An expert speaks of “brief” agony for the victim.
The prosecution maintains that Manuel D. died due to smoke intoxication, but also “vital burns during the fire”. If the expert psychiatrist notes an alteration in the young woman’s discernment due to the strong ties that united her to her grandfather, the expert psychologist highlights “the central position” occupied by the young woman, leading her to think that She was on a mission to end the old man’s life.
Experts also note that the day of the act is not trivial. The day before, she discovered her husband’s infidelity. This act of euthanasia is then perceived as “a projection of the violence that was done to him and behavior with a suicidal tone”.
The benches of the civil parties will be empty. The family supports the young woman who faces life imprisonment. Today, the accused says she regrets her actions.
