“We don’t kill because we heard that we were going to be fired”: the killing of the Plantiers at the time of the trial

So, before this legal meeting, she returns one last time to the drama which turned her life upside down and that of Camille, the partner of Martial Guérin, the second victim, who became her sister ;misfortune, with whom she shares all the horrors of this story.

"When I start a sentence, she finishes it and vice versa" she smiles as she explains that Camille is detained at work.

On Tuesday May 11, 2021, two days before Ascension Day, Valentin Marcone, 28 years old, sawmill employee, is accused of having arrived at his workplace, of rsquo;having taken out a gun and killing his boss Luc Teissonnière with two bullets and Martial Guérin, an employee, with one shot.

"Am I waiting for explanations ? I don't know if it's rational"

The reasons ? Futile. Derisory. A "hello" that would not have been said followed by a remark, a quarrel over overtime and a young litigious individual convinced that the two victims were talking about his dismissal to come…

"Am I waiting for explanations ? I don't know if it's rational… We don't kill not someone because we supposedly heard that we were going to be fired… I was fired twice for economic reasons, I Wasn't happy, but I never thought I wanted to kill my boss" Fiona breathes.

For a time, these courageous widows wondered if a trial would take place, because the mental state of Valentin Marcone raised questions, as did his suicidal tendencies. The psychiatric doctors mentioned a disorder, a paranoid type delusion, but felt that he could be tried.

"We are going to go through the trial, the alteration of discernment is proven and also its dangerousness" recalls the one who is a civil party.

"We were under protection, I felt like I was at the village festival"

This mother also remembers her daze, just after the tragedy, even though the nightmare continues. Marcone, a precision shooting specialist, returned home, changed clothes, took a rifle from the middle of his arsenal and fled. More than 300 gendarmes will hunt him down for more than 80 hours, the village is put under cover, outside of time, in anguish and waiting.

"We were under protection, in a cocoon, everyone was nice, I had the impression of being at home village festival" she remembers. The fugitive, hidden in a boar hole, eventually surrendered, without further bloodshed.

Me Nougier, civil party: “People appreciated by everyone and who died for nothing”

Me Rémy Nougier, civil party, defends the interests of the widows Fiona and Camille, but also those of Vincent, the survivor of the killing and victim in this case.

"We have the impression that the accused is hiding behind an unproven pseudo-madness. At the time of the events, he was calm, serene, determined, in omnipotence. If he had been in a daze, he would not have had the lucidity to spare Vincent. He must assume, he must try to get closer to a more objective reality. he elaborates.

"And then this story of dismissal came from his imagination, even if we pardon him, does a labor dispute justify putting a bullet in the head of his boss ? And a bullet in the head of his colleague who had nothing to do with it ?

People appreciated by everyone and who died for nothing. Obviously not. There is perhaps jealousy, revenge, we can find explanations elsewhere than in his paranoia."

Today, from the trial, she doesn't expect "not much. In any case, it is proven that Marconne is guilty, he killed, he confessed. Whatever the sentence, it's not going to change my life, it changed almost three years ago."

Damn, why didn't she see anything! All these weapons!"

While pitying her, she rages against Blandine, Marcone's wife, who comes from the village like her and whose mother Nadine was her children's nanny.

"Damn, why didn't she see anything! That he was accumulating all these weapons! That he was rehashing all these stories of overtime!" she curses. "But Blandine has the worst place, she didn’ask for nothing."

So Fiona prefers to keep the memory of Luc, this inveterate wood enthusiast, who realized his dream of creating a sawmill on the land his father had bought for him. For her, there is no question of leaving Plantiers, "for us Protestants, our dead are buried in the garden"says the one who displays a Huguenot cross, without however attending the temple.

The Luc and Marial trophy

And then she recounts this anecdote which warms her heart, illustrating the solidarity of an entire village. That of the "Luc and Martial" trophy, a lauze sculpture, dedicated to the victims, which passes from hand to hand, each year, at the end of a pétanque competition while remaining & ;nbsp;at the Plantiers bar.

"Luc told me once "I want us to celebrate when I die". .. There, there is something in his memory."

Mes De Prato and Mordaq: “let the sentence take into account all the elements”

My Florence De Prato and Hélène Mordaq defend the accused Valentin Marcone.

For them, one of the challenges will be to have the court recognize the alteration of their client's discernment (which would cause him to incur 30 years of imprisonment and no longer life imprisonment), suffering from paranoid delusions.

But also convince that there was no little premeditation on May 11, 2021, because the accused had been coming to his work for several days in bulletproof vest and armed.

"Valentin is doing better because he can express himself better. He intends to be held accountable to the courts, he understands all the violence of his act and will continue to take responsibility for it as he has since the start of his custody.

Three psychiatric reports say the same thing. We will try to ensure that he gets the fairest sentence, we know that it will be heavy but it must be able to take into account all the elements and of course the suffering of the civil parties."

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