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A court in France
He sentenced Jonathann Daval to 25 years in prison for killing his wife and then cremating the body.
The 36-year-old Frenchman remained unmoved while reading the verdict. He turned to look at the members of his own family who were present.
First he said “I’m sorry”, looking at his wife’s parents.
Finally Daval confessed to beating his wife to death and burning her body in the forest after initially reporting her missing.
The charred remains of Alexia Daval were found hidden under branches near her hometown of Gray-la-Ville in eastern France in October 2017.
Daval initially said that Alexia, a 29-year-old bank employee, ran out and never returned.
Jean-Pierre Fouillot, Alexia’s father, put his arm around his wife Isabelle’s shoulders when the court decision was issued.
A few minutes later, her mother, Isabelle Fouillot, came out to talk to reporters, as she had done during the trial.
“It’s a very good decision, exactly what I expected at the height of our suffering. This will allow us to move on,” he said.
‘Almost perfect marital offense’
Defense lawyer Ornella Spatafora was quick to say so there would be no appeal against the sentence.
Outside the court, dozens of people were pressed against the barriers blocking access.
Prosecutors had asked for a life sentence and assessed the murder
2017 of “an almost perfect marital crime”.
After his wife’s death, Duval had appeared in tears and distress at a press conference with his in-laws and spearheading one of several events held across the country in his memory.
Three months later, prosecutors said the IT operator confessed to the murder, admitting he hit his wife in a heated argument, hit her in the face against a concrete wall and strangled her.
He initially denied burning the body, but eventually admitted it in June last year.
Daval changed his story several times and even blamed his brother-in-law, but eventually admitted it all again.
When the judge asked him on Monday if he admitted he was “the only person implicated in the death” of his wife, Daval replied “yes”, looking on the verge of tears.
The crime deeply shocked France and nearly 10,000 people flocked to the couple’s quiet town for a silent march in their memory.
The murder highlighted the scourge of violence against women at the height of the global #MeToo campaign against sexual abuse and harassment of women.
According to the French authorities, 125,840 women were victims of domestic violence in 2019. Another 146 were killed by their partner or former partner, 25 more than the previous year.
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