- Relatives of the victim: “Linn amenn doub rol”
The truth finally came out. Jonathan Merle, 33, was arrested for the murder of his wife Nancy Merle, 28. The young woman, from Résidence Argy, in Flacq, was found lifeless at her home on June 2. On June 24, pressed for questions, her husband admitted to Flacq CID sleuths that he had used a pillow to suffocate the mother of his two young children. On Tuesday, he participated in a reconstruction of the facts to the cries and invectives of friends, relatives and residents of the neighborhood.
The family of the young woman, mother of a four-month-old boy and a one-year-old girl, is overwhelmed by her death. She suspected from the start that Nancy's death was not natural, because she was a woman who suffered the blows from her husband. “He had staged everything. He said Nancy was sick. He bought oranges for her,” she said.
Then he went to the hospital. “Mo ti al ar li, devan mwa, trwa fwa li dir dokter pa bizin fer lotopsi. Si mo ti kone ki linn fer mo kouzinn…”, grumbles Emmanuelito, Nancy’s cousin, devastated by this affair. Indeed, the suspect, he suggests, hid his game well. “She said that she was facing difficulties in her relationship, but we thought that they would be able to resolve them, like many couples. We didn't know the gravity. 'Linn amenn doub rol', says the young man. A post-mortem examination concluded that she died of left ventricular failure.
Seeing Nancy at the funeral, her loved ones still didn't want to believe in this sudden death. “Li fer zess li plore, paret bien affekte,” says Marie Angel. The young woman's funeral took place on June 6. “Then we get our blade, we find a mark where it is,” says Emmanuelito. His father, Gérard Catapermal, went to the Flacq police on June 13 to request that a careful investigation be carried out into the circumstances of the death.
The Flacq CID sleuths took over this case and interviewed several relatives and friends of the victim. They notably heard the testimony of Jenssy Sabapathee, from the “Respecter Nous” association, working against domestic violence, to whom the victim had confided that her husband was violent and regularly brutalized her.
Arrested on Monday June 24, the young woman's husband was questioned. His version of events, saying that his wife had been vomiting and unwell on the day of her death, did not convince investigators. They subjected him to intense interrogation. He finally confessed in the afternoon.
Jonathan Merle spent the night in a police cell. On Tuesday, he was charged with murder in the Flacq district court.
A reconstruction of the facts under high tension
Strong police mobilization at Résidence Argy, Flacq, Tuesday afternoon. The tension rose a notch when the Flacq CID sleuths, escorted by elements of the SSU, went to the victim's home with the suspect for a reconstruction of the facts. Relatives, friends and residents of the neighborhood expressed their anger. The suspect, protected by police officers, went directly upstairs for this exercise, while the people there were barely able to hide their disgust for his action. It was under heavy escort that the suspect came out of the house and threw himself directly into a police vehicle.
