Residence of Pont-de-Beauvoisin have been reacting to the life sentence handed to Nordahl Lelandais over the murder of Maëlys, as they revealed that they are relieved to have gotten a deserved verdict from the court.
According to the report by AFP, the kidnapper and murderer, who also was a former Dog handler was sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday.
“Turn the page, I don’t think. He’s from the area, I don’t think anyone will be able to forget.” More than four and a half years after the events, the trauma remains intact for the inhabitants of Pont-de-Beauvoisin over the murder of Maëlys, AFP reports.
At the end of August 2017, the small town of Isère became infamous after the kidnapping of little Maëlys, 8, during a wedding party. His body will be found six months later.
A decision that does not appease the emotion of the inhabitants of Pont-de-Beauvoisin. “We think very strongly of the family, of his sister, of his parents. It should not have happened. It’s sad, there are no words”, underlines a local resident, at the microphone of BFMTV.
“We can’t go too far with what happened, knowing what the little one has been through and what the parents, the sister, are going through,” laments another.
The Murder of Maëlys: “He is a barbarian, someone who is not human”
The former soldier, who is already serving a 20-year prison sentence for the murder of the young soldier Arthur Noyer whom he had hitchhiked in Chambéry in April 2017, saw his conviction accompanied by a security measure of 22 years.
“Very happy that he had this pain. He deserved that, because he is a barbarian, he is someone who is not human”, assures a resident of Pont-de-Beauvoisin.
Nordahl Lelandais, who has already served four years in pre-trial detention, will therefore be able to make a first request for freedom in 18 years. A perspective that is not unanimous. “It’s not enough. In 18 years, I will be there with the parents to do everything we can so that he does not go out,” says another resident.
Maëlys’ family “relieved” by the decision
“Perpetuity is what we took when we no longer had Maëlys (…) the sentence is up to what I expected,” said the girl’s mother, Jennifer Cleyet-Marrel , in front of the press at the end of the trial. Her ex-husband, Joachim De Araujo, for his part said he was “relieved”:
“We know that he is going to prison and that he will no longer hurt anyone,” he said while also regretting that he did not have the whole truth.
The council of Nordahl Lelandais, Me Alain Jakubowicz, has already announced that his client will not appeal .