Gradignan murder: suspect changes account multiple times before court
Ulric Riboulet, accused of murdering Véronique Boitard in 2022, gave contradictory accounts when questioned by judges. Material evidence systematically contradicts him.
Disjointed accounts and damning evidence
According to sudouest.fr, before the Gironde assize court, Ulric Riboulet gave several versions of his involvement in the murder of Véronique Boitard. Killed with a knife in Gradignan in the summer of 2022 at her home with no apparent motive, his neighbour remained at the centre of a case riddled with contradictions from the 27-year-old accused at the time of trial.
During his hearing on Tuesday 6 October, Riboulet first denied all responsibility. He claimed to have spotted "one to three individuals" fleeing and entered the property, leaving footprints. He claimed to have discovered the body and then became frightened. Confronted again by the magistrates, he finally changed his account, claiming to have witnessed the murder: he said he had tried to stop the attacker and had even sustained an arm wound during the confrontation.
These successive versions contrasted sharply with the material evidence. The victim's blood was found on Riboulet's trainers. The crime scene bore around ten sole impressions corresponding to his shoes — the only footprints found on the flooring of the home.
An agitated and confused psychiatric profile
Riboulet's history reveals behavioural instability noted since adolescence. At age 14, in 2014, his mother discovered him burning his hand with a lighter. He spoke of "voices". This first hospitalisation at Charles-Perrens hospital was followed by two further stays within six years.
In 2018, he attacked a cousin in Madagascar with a knife. He justified the act by saying there "was a fight". In 2020, he threw a hatchet in the direction of a neighbour to whom his mother had fled. The psychiatrist who examined Riboulet at that time diagnosed schizophrenia and declared him criminally irresponsible.
However, the three psychiatric experts consulted after Véronique Boitard's murder reached the opposite conclusion. According to them, his judgment was neither abolished nor impaired at the time of the acts. The experts affirmed an "absence of mental pathology", highlighting behavioural difficulties. Dr Paul Bonnan explained: "His problem is accepting setbacks, frustrations. Cannabis disinhibits him and facilitates his acting out."
Cannabis and psychological fragility
Cannabis consumption was identified as an aggravating factor. At certain periods, Riboulet smoked up to 30 joints per week. The psychiatrists raised the possibility of "pharmacopsychosis" episodes. Dr Jacques Bertrand clarified: "In a balanced person, cannabis does not necessarily cause problems. In a fragile person, the substance can lead to acute psychosis."
Incarcerated for four years before trial, Riboulet had withdrawn from cannabis. His cellmates described him as baking cakes for their birthdays and playing guitar on occasion. Nevertheless, the second day of hearings confirmed disordered and confused thinking.
His relatives variously described him as "discreet", "calm" and "a bit spaced out". His mother, a 50-year-old childminder, acknowledged that her son had had a childhood marked by the complete absence of his father, before difficulties intensified during adolescence.
Uncertainty over criminal liability
Faced with persistent contradictions and the fragmentary nature of Riboulet's discourse, the president of the court announced, before closing the second day of hearings, that the tribunal would ultimately examine the question of his criminal responsibility before delivering its verdict the following Wednesday. The three experts had affirmed he was fully responsible for his acts, but the manifest disorder in his thinking and the complex psychiatric history left doubt over the determination of this responsibility at the time of judgment.
Source: Google News FR — Crime (fr)