Samire Lymani, a 41-year-old man, was sentenced to 30 years in prison in Montpellier on Tuesday for killing his partner Aurélie Vaquier, who was found buried under a concrete slab in the couple's home in southern France in April 2021.
After deliberating for four hours, the jury recognized this former soldier and truck driver, who vehemently denied the facts, as “guilty” of the murder of 38-year-old Aurélie Vaquier and convicted him according to the indictment of the Attorney General.
As the verdict was announced, Samire Lymani shouted from the dock: “I am innocent!” Justice! Justice!” before being evacuated.
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“The verdict is substantial and appropriate for this monster,” Aurélie’s brother Jérémy Vaquier reacted a few minutes later, visibly moved: “We are always afraid of sending an innocent person to prison.” But although he protests his innocence, the evidence is there, and so are we will finally be able to think of something else, although of course he will appeal.”
In fact, defense attorney Mathieu Montfort, who had hoped to have sowed sufficient doubt in the minds of the jury by shedding a different “light” on the facts alleged against his client, immediately announced that he would “obviously appeal this decision.”
“This crime is terrible. “I ask you to find Samire Lymani guilty of the murder of his partner Aurélie Vaquier and to sentence him to 30 years of criminal imprisonment,” said Attorney General Damien Kincher earlier in his indictment.
Samire Lymani, between tears and vindictive, often incoherent remarks, on Tuesday denounced a media-influenced investigation and claimed to be “not a monster.” “Aurélie was a good person. They killed her and buried her in my house,” he finally said.
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Damien Kincher mentioned the “absurd hypothesis” that it was a stranger who killed the young woman in her home and then buried her by pouring a concrete slab hidden under a wooden platform in the couple's own home.
A version that Samire Lymani has always supported, explaining that the events occurred when he was away with his family for a few days.
“Lies, lies, lies… that stranger is you, Samire Lymani,” the attorney general began.
“Shipwreck of a Couple”
For the prosecution, Aurélie Vaquier “never left her home.” The proof? She was wearing pajamas and slippers when she was killed.
As for the message she sent on January 28th to announce that she was going to the country to “read and write”? “A forgery,” written by Mr. Lymani, Mr. Kincher insisted.
If the “late” report of his disappearance – almost a month later – to the gendarmerie was “the first element against him”, Samire Lymani “admitted his guilt” when he claimed that he saw nothing suspicious when he returned to the marital home in February to have 6.
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According to the Attorney General, since he was carrying out work there, he must inevitably have noticed that a concrete slab had been poured under the famous wooden platform on which Aurélie's body was discovered by the police station.
“The cell phone? “I'm not in Lymani's head,” agrees the prosecutor. But he recalls the “shipwreck of a couple who fell by the wayside” “who embarked on a poorly put together project,” namely the Setting up a vegan restaurant in Bédarieux “It's becoming a nightmare, he wanted to replace them,” says Damien Kincher.
As for the defense, Me Montfort disagreed, complaining about numerous “shortcuts” in an investigation that from the start focused on the alleged guilt of Aurélie’s companion.
“Couldn’t there be someone else” who “knew Aurélie, who knew the places” and whom she wouldn’t have suspected, the lawyer asked.
He also pointed out that Samire Lymani “could have gotten rid of the body” for weeks instead of hiding it in a shelter that would inevitably be searched. “But no, he stays there, he waits. Is this all logical?” for a murderer, he asked himself.