He had been tried for more than two months in a case where two theses opposed. The accused asserted, French inquiry in support, which was a suicide, the Seychellois police and the relatives of the victim concluded at a feminicide.
Le Monde and AFP
At the end of the trial was the longest who had never held in Seychelles, the French street-artist Thomas Debatisse was acquitted with the murder of his companion, Friday, April 15 at dawn. The trial lasted more than two months, with no less than twenty-five people called to the bar to testify.
“This is the end of humiliation,” said Thomas Debatis, after the announcement of the decision. He left the courthouse with his mother and his father-in-law. Incarcerated since May 5, 2021, he risked the life prison.
The jury of five men and two women decided by six votes to two that French was not guilty of the murder of Emmanuelle Badibanga, 32 years old. This manager of a place dedicated to events in Nice (south-east of France) was found on April 27, 2021 Hanging at the hook-towels of their bathroom at Club Med on the island of Sainte -Anne, where they stayed.
The French survey rather than the Seychelles conclusions
Thomas Debatisse, a 35-year-old Street Artist from Nice, where he is known under the nickname of Otom, claimed his innocence, and his defense relied on a French survey favoring the hypothesis of a hanging, so a suicide.
“I had no doubt that it was an innocent man that we were judging. For me, the Seychelloise police must review his protocol,” said Bazil Hoareau, Counsel for Thomas Debatisse, While questioning the skills of the medical examiner who carried out the autopsy of the victim. “It is thanks to the help of French experts, who have shown that the pathologist of Seychelles had lied to the Court and that he was incompetent, that was what allowed us to obtain the acquittal”, Affirmed Mr. Hoareau.
Richard Sedillot, another defense lawyer, “said” very happy that the jury, at a very large majority, has realized what we thought from the beginning, that is to- tell the innocence of Thomas “. The mother of the thirties melted into tears in her arms of her son, confident that the verdict was “a deliverance”. “It was very hard,” said Anne Debatis.
The sister of Emmanuelle Badibanga left the courtroom of the court without saying a word.