Trial in the murder of Corinne Di Dio: the accused's daughter takes the stand in Yvelines
Nancy H., daughter of Marie-Thérèse Garcia, testified on Monday at the Yvelines court of assizes regarding the 1995 murder. Her deposition mixed reported confessions with areas of doubt questioned by the court president.
Nancy H. on the stand: between accusations and contradictions in the Garcia trial
The third and final week of Marie-Thérèse Garcia's trial opened Monday 29 June before the Yvelines court of assizes with the most anticipated testimony since the start of proceedings: that of Nancy H., the accused's younger daughter. According to bfmtv.com, it is precisely on her 2004 testimony that the reopening of a case that had been dismissed four years earlier rests.
From her first words at the stand, Nancy H. surprises all parties. "I have no conflict with my mother," she declares in a slightly trembling voice, a pistache-green tailored jacket on her back. An unexpected preamble for someone whom the defence regards as the principal accuser of Marie-Thérèse Garcia, nicknamed Ma Dalton.
The body in the boot and a case long left unsolved
On 28 June 1995, the headless and handless body of a woman is discovered in a metal trunk floating on the Seine in Eure. The authorities take two years to identify it: it is Corinne Di Dio, a 37-year-old sales executive reported missing since 19 June 1995. Moving in circles of serious organised crime, the victim is the subject of several investigative lines of inquiry without conclusive results. The file is closed in 2000 for lack of solid evidence.
It is Nancy H.'s testimony in August 2004 that reopens the investigation. She presents herself at the Versailles judicial police headquarters and reports confidences made by Francisco Marquez-Gomez, her mother's former partner, whom she met while he was in detention. He allegedly told her that Marie-Thérèse Garcia had confessed to him that she participated in the murder of Corinne Di Dio. "He told me that Madame Garcia had her revenge, that she had been to Corinne's, that she had been cut up and thrown into a pond," Nancy H. relates at the stand.
A memory from 1989 and troubling details
The witness also recounts an earlier memory predating the murder, dating back to 1989. She claims to have caught her mother plotting with a neighbour to get rid of a woman whose identity she says she did not understand at the time. "She said she wanted to trap a person, to set a young man on her tracks to get her to come as often as possible to Saint-Hilarion. She talked about making a car disappear, teeth."
That same evening, according to her account, her mother takes her to Rambouillet to scout out a lake. "We went to see a lake to make a car disappear. She said she needed to come here to sound out the depth."
Nancy H. finally reports a scene that occurred a few days after her 2004 deposition, during a visit to her mother's home. When asked spontaneously about the Corinne Di Dio affair, Marie-Thérèse Garcia allegedly replied by pointing to the chair where her daughter was sitting: "You see, where you are, that's where she was strangled. We had a hard time."
Inconsistencies noted by the court president
Whilst these statements represent a boon for the civil parties and the public prosecutor, several points raise questions within the court. The court president questions Nancy H. about the date of the alleged conversation with the neighbour: "You speak of 1989, but Corinne Di Dio went missing in 1995. Are you certain of this date?" The witness answers in the affirmative, despite the observation that the two women would not have seen each other between 1989 and 1995.
The court president also notes a discrepancy between the 2004 deposition — where Nancy H. evoked a telephone conversation — and her current version of a face-to-face conversation with the neighbour present at her mother's home. "There must be an error somewhere," the witness maintains.
A deputy prosecutor's advocate pushes the questioning further, asking whether the 1989 conversation could have concerned someone other than Corinne Di Dio. "No," Nancy H. says decisively, even though she had earlier stated that she did not know who was being discussed at the time. "I don't see who else it could concern. It can't be anyone else."
A family fractured by the years
Throughout the hearing, Nancy H. gives the impression at times of dodging certain questions about her relations with her mother. She maintains that she harbours no resentment: "I have always respected her choices, even if I don't agree. I am someone who doesn't make trouble."
In the dock, Marie-Thérèse Garcia, 79 years old, sighs regularly and shakes her head. According to the personality investigator heard earlier in the trial, the accused described her younger daughter as a "viper" who was "ruining her life".
The years have deepened the family rift. Nancy H. has been progressively ostracised within the Garcia clan: her own daughters have broken off all contact with her, and she was barred from attending the funeral of her elder sister, Bettina, who died in a car accident. Social media also testify, according to bfmtv.com, to the toxic atmosphere that has developed over time within the family.
Marie-Thérèse Garcia is being tried for the murder of Corinne Di Dio, 28 years after the facts. The trial is being held before the Yvelines court of assizes.
Source: Google News FR — Crime (fr)