WEBVTT - Trial & Tribulations [10] 0:00:00.360 --> 0:00:03.440 The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely 0:00:03.440 --> 0:00:07.320 those of the podcast author or individuals participating in the podcast, 0:00:07.680 --> 0:00:11.400 and do not represent those of iHeartMedia, Tenderfoot TV, or 0:00:11.440 --> 0:00:15.680 their employees. This podcast also contained subject matter which may 0:00:15.720 --> 0:00:19.520 not be suitable for everyone. Listener discretion is advised. 0:00:24.440 --> 0:00:27.479 It was the month of April nineteen ninety eight and 0:00:27.560 --> 0:00:30.200 spring flowers were beginning to bloom in the quaint town 0:00:30.240 --> 0:00:33.480 of neuf Chateau, nestled into the gorgeous Valet du Lac 0:00:33.640 --> 0:00:37.680 in the south of Belgium. It's an area where people 0:00:37.720 --> 0:00:40.240 come to get away and enjoy the fruits of nature. 0:00:40.360 --> 0:00:44.080 With hiking trails along flowing streams leading from one flowery 0:00:44.159 --> 0:00:47.840 village to the next. It seems like a very strange 0:00:47.880 --> 0:00:51.479 place to hold Belgium's most hated criminal, but his original 0:00:51.560 --> 0:00:54.840 arrest was linked to the disappearance of Letitia Dalas from 0:00:54.840 --> 0:00:58.360 the nearby village of Bertrie, and neuf Chateau had jurisdiction 0:00:58.440 --> 0:01:02.240 over the case. It had been almost two years since 0:01:02.280 --> 0:01:05.080 the true's arrest and there was a new investigating judge 0:01:05.160 --> 0:01:08.160 named Jacques l'anlois in charge of the case, as the 0:01:08.160 --> 0:01:13.800 previous Judge Jean Marc Conrad had been removed. Judge Langlois, 0:01:13.959 --> 0:01:17.240 as well as the king's prosecutor Boulais, and police officers 0:01:17.319 --> 0:01:20.759 du Moulin and Adon, whom you heard from in previous episodes, 0:01:20.760 --> 0:01:23.920 were toiling away in Enouf Chateau investigating the case and 0:01:24.000 --> 0:01:28.199 preparing for a future trial. Mark d True was also 0:01:28.319 --> 0:01:31.800 busy at work in enauf Chateau preparing his defense. Like 0:01:31.840 --> 0:01:34.040 all defendants, de True had the right to consult a 0:01:34.120 --> 0:01:38.280 file relative to his case. On the twenty third of 0:01:38.280 --> 0:01:41.240 April nineteen ninety eight, the True was in the Justice 0:01:41.280 --> 0:01:44.360 Palace of Neufchateau looking over his files under the watch 0:01:44.400 --> 0:01:48.360 of two gendarmes. The Justice Palace is somewhat of a 0:01:48.440 --> 0:01:51.240 quaint structure right in the center of town, built in 0:01:51.280 --> 0:01:53.680 the eighteen hundreds, with a well carved statue of an 0:01:53.760 --> 0:01:57.000 angel in front, flanked by a double staircase leading to 0:01:57.080 --> 0:02:01.160 the entrance. Given the size of the sprawling case file, 0:02:01.320 --> 0:02:04.240 it couldn't be kept all in one place. A file 0:02:04.320 --> 0:02:07.000 to True was looking for was on a different floor, 0:02:07.240 --> 0:02:09.840 so one of the gendarmes guarding him left him with 0:02:09.919 --> 0:02:12.400 the other armed guard to go upstairs. And fetch it 0:02:12.440 --> 0:02:16.600 from another repository. D True was unhandcuffed so he could 0:02:16.600 --> 0:02:19.040 consult the files, and now it was just him and 0:02:19.040 --> 0:02:22.640 the other officer. He saw his chance and took it. 0:02:24.120 --> 0:02:27.200 He lurched at the unexpecting officer with a hard punch 0:02:27.280 --> 0:02:34.200 and went straight for his gun. It worked. Suddenly the 0:02:34.240 --> 0:02:38.520 tables had turned drastically. De True was hands free behind 0:02:38.560 --> 0:02:42.160 an unlocked door and armed with a nine millimeters service revolver. 0:02:43.720 --> 0:02:50.400 He bolted out the door and flew down the inside stairs, 0:02:50.440 --> 0:02:54.160 suddenly finding himself face to face with a deputy Crown prosecutor. 0:02:54.760 --> 0:02:58.280 Without hesitation, he pointed the gun straight at the prosecutor's 0:02:58.280 --> 0:03:02.440 head while continuing his escape. It wasn't long before he 0:03:02.520 --> 0:03:05.200 burst out of the large public entrance into the bright 0:03:05.320 --> 0:03:10.480 light of day. He hid behind a wall nearby to 0:03:10.560 --> 0:03:13.040 catch his breath and saw a woman stopped in her 0:03:13.080 --> 0:03:18.800 car nearby. Without hesitation, he pounced and brutally carjacktor at gunpoint. 0:03:21.720 --> 0:03:24.079 Now he had wheels and was speeding out of nef 0:03:24.160 --> 0:03:28.720 Chateau into the thick surrounding forest. The True had just 0:03:28.800 --> 0:03:35.640 achieved the impossible. Belgium's most notorious criminal had escaped. 0:03:42.680 --> 0:03:47.800 Psychobat is somebody who understands emotions. 0:03:47.560 --> 0:03:51.280 And I told them it is very exceptional that somebody 0:03:51.360 --> 0:03:55.280 abducts two children at the same time. To be theen 0:03:55.360 --> 0:03:58.920 of it in nineteen eighty six, but my god, it 0:03:59.120 --> 0:03:59.960 was just a beginning. 0:04:01.120 --> 0:04:03.880 I think Belgium was a paralyzed for perverts in those days. 0:04:11.240 --> 0:04:18.720 Welcome to La Monstra. I'm your host. Matt Graves a 0:04:19.040 --> 0:04:19.720 stupid vas. 0:04:21.360 --> 0:04:22.880 I love Texuntian for a position. 0:04:40.400 --> 0:04:43.280 I'll never forget the day the true escaped. It was 0:04:43.320 --> 0:04:46.880 one of those historic moments for Belgium where everyone remembers 0:04:46.920 --> 0:04:50.640 where they were when they heard the news. The entire 0:04:50.720 --> 0:04:54.080 country was glued to their TVs and radios, from the 0:04:54.120 --> 0:04:57.080 north of Flanders to the south of Wologna. Everyone was 0:04:57.080 --> 0:05:02.800 holding their breath. How could this be the country's most 0:05:02.880 --> 0:05:06.080 dangerous and hated criminal was armed and on the loose. 0:05:07.480 --> 0:05:11.159 All of Belgium's police forces were immediately deployed, and both 0:05:11.200 --> 0:05:14.800 sides of border patrols in neighboring France, Germany and Luxembourg 0:05:14.920 --> 0:05:20.000 were put on high alert. Surveillance aircraft were scrambled, including 0:05:20.040 --> 0:05:25.719 search planes and sixteen helicopters. Police were retracing the steps 0:05:25.720 --> 0:05:28.600 of the escape they knew to True had burst out 0:05:28.640 --> 0:05:31.479 of the Justice Palace at two forty six pm, and 0:05:31.560 --> 0:05:35.320 there were several bystanders who witnessed the escape. One of 0:05:35.320 --> 0:05:38.880 these witnesses recognized the True and gave chase, but when 0:05:38.920 --> 0:05:41.200 he caught up with him, De True raised his gun 0:05:41.440 --> 0:05:45.000 and the man ran for cover. The car he jacked 0:05:45.040 --> 0:05:47.680 was a gray Renault Megan model and it was last 0:05:47.720 --> 0:05:51.200 seen speeding out of Neufchateau, heading south into the forest. 0:05:52.440 --> 0:05:54.680 It had now been over an hour and the search 0:05:54.800 --> 0:05:59.119 was still on once again. Bruno de Nis gives voice 0:05:59.200 --> 0:06:01.559 to what people were feeling in Belgium at the time. 0:06:02.720 --> 0:06:05.480 What can I say? I mean, at this point people 0:06:05.560 --> 0:06:09.440 already weren't trusting the police, and so I hear in 0:06:09.480 --> 0:06:13.640 my car on the radio while driving that the True escaped. 0:06:14.080 --> 0:06:17.400 Are you kidding me? The one guy in the whole 0:06:17.440 --> 0:06:22.760 country that shouldn't escape. It was embarrassing. It was like 0:06:22.880 --> 0:06:27.200 Belgium was a banana republic. I mean, you can't make 0:06:27.320 --> 0:06:30.560 up this kind of stuff. Because there was so little 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:34.880 trust at that time. People were suspicious that the Gendarmerie 0:06:34.920 --> 0:06:36.840 was playing games. 0:06:38.040 --> 0:06:41.240 While the public was rightly outraged, it was the victims' 0:06:41.279 --> 0:06:44.480 families and surviving victims that were once again failed by 0:06:44.520 --> 0:06:48.520 the justice system. Letitia Dalis was at school when she 0:06:48.640 --> 0:06:51.920 was alerted of the escape. She burst into tears when 0:06:52.000 --> 0:06:55.040 she realized that it wasn't just a cruel joke. The 0:06:55.120 --> 0:06:58.360 Legion family went into hiding, fearing that the Truth could 0:06:58.360 --> 0:07:03.040 show up at their house. The investigative journalist Douglas Daconic 0:07:03.200 --> 0:07:06.480 and his colleagues felt similarly to the public and wondered 0:07:06.480 --> 0:07:08.200 if there was something else at play here. 0:07:09.160 --> 0:07:12.760 But that day, for the first time in more any year, 0:07:12.920 --> 0:07:15.200 it was we heard the voice of Michelle Bourle on 0:07:15.240 --> 0:07:17.760 the radio very quick I think, only a few minutes 0:07:17.800 --> 0:07:21.880 after the True escaped, saying that he could confirm that 0:07:21.920 --> 0:07:24.400 the True had escaped, that he had took a gun, 0:07:24.880 --> 0:07:28.880 but the gun was unloaded, and yeah, I don't know 0:07:28.880 --> 0:07:30.800 what to think about it, But a lot of journalists 0:07:30.800 --> 0:07:35.280 had the idea, why is he saying this publicly so quickly? Afterwards, 0:07:35.400 --> 0:07:40.320 there were theories that Gean Darmerie would have liked very 0:07:40.400 --> 0:07:44.520 much open fire on Market. True, nobody would have complained, 0:07:45.360 --> 0:07:47.000 but it would have been the end of the possibility 0:07:47.000 --> 0:07:53.280 to interrogate Market. True. I don't think. Michelle Bourgle suspected 0:07:53.440 --> 0:07:56.040 Gehan dear Marie of wanting to kill the True, but 0:07:57.400 --> 0:07:59.360 he just wanted to make sure that it wouldn't happen. 0:08:03.400 --> 0:08:06.320 Meanwhile, Da Trux was trying to make himself lost in 0:08:06.360 --> 0:08:12.760 the forest when he pulled into an unpaved road. The 0:08:12.840 --> 0:08:15.040 car got stuck and he had to make a run 0:08:15.080 --> 0:08:19.720 for it on foot. A forest ranger saw him and 0:08:19.760 --> 0:08:23.040 immediately called it in. It wasn't long before he was 0:08:23.080 --> 0:08:26.840 surrounded and had no choice but to surrender. It all 0:08:26.960 --> 0:08:29.960 ended as quickly as it started, and after three hours 0:08:30.000 --> 0:08:33.040 of stress and disbelief, the country breathed a sigh of 0:08:33.080 --> 0:08:36.040 collective relief at the sight of the True being brought 0:08:36.120 --> 0:08:40.080 back into custody. Both the ministers of the Interior and 0:08:40.280 --> 0:08:44.280 Justice immediately tendered their resignations as the government quickly tried 0:08:44.320 --> 0:08:56.720 to draw a line under this embarrassing episode. When things 0:08:56.760 --> 0:09:01.360 settled down after d'tru's escape and capture, everyone turned to Noufchateau. 0:09:02.160 --> 0:09:06.160 The investigating judge, Jacques l'anois, had the unenviable task of 0:09:06.200 --> 0:09:10.160 bringing the case to trial. The French and Belgian judicial 0:09:10.200 --> 0:09:12.400 systems are very different to what we're used to in 0:09:12.440 --> 0:09:16.680 the Anglo American world, an investigating judge replaces the function 0:09:16.720 --> 0:09:20.280 of a grand jury, ultimately deciding if their sufficient evidence 0:09:20.320 --> 0:09:23.920 of guilt to warrant a trial. He or she wields 0:09:23.960 --> 0:09:28.319 considerable powers, including the issuing of warrants, seizing of evidence, 0:09:28.640 --> 0:09:31.920 and whether or not to take the case forward. In 0:09:31.960 --> 0:09:35.160 the end, an investigating judge really determines who is being 0:09:35.280 --> 0:09:39.840 charged in the overall shape of the trial. It took 0:09:39.880 --> 0:09:42.000 no less than seven years since the arrest of de 0:09:42.120 --> 0:09:45.640 True to bring the case forward. For the families of 0:09:45.720 --> 0:09:50.280 Julie Lejeone, Melissa Rousseau, Ann Martial and Effie Alambrics and 0:09:50.360 --> 0:09:54.680 surviving victims Letitia de Les and sabindardin seven years must 0:09:54.679 --> 0:09:59.080 have felt like an eternity. Eventually, Belgian's trial of the 0:09:59.120 --> 0:10:00.440 century got under way. 0:10:03.720 --> 0:10:04.600 La Poise de. 0:10:04.600 --> 0:10:13.600 Marque de Marque Utreu and he is rust to Alta. 0:10:15.720 --> 0:10:18.120 It was March two thousand and four at the Court 0:10:18.160 --> 0:10:21.600 of the Seas in the city of Arlon in Belgium, 0:10:21.679 --> 0:10:24.200 the first day of the biggest trial in the history 0:10:24.240 --> 0:10:28.359 of this country. A large field close to the courthouse 0:10:28.520 --> 0:10:31.400 was cleared to accommodate the over two hundred and fifty 0:10:31.480 --> 0:10:36.120 media outlets covering the trial. In total, there were three judges, 0:10:36.360 --> 0:10:41.560 fourteen civil parties, fifteen lawyers, twenty four jurors, over four 0:10:41.640 --> 0:10:47.000 hundred and fifty witnesses and four defendants. These were Mark 0:10:47.080 --> 0:10:51.680 the True, his wife Michelle Martin, the accomplice Michel Le Lievre, 0:10:51.920 --> 0:10:56.800 and corrupt businessman Michel Nihu. The True was led into 0:10:56.840 --> 0:11:00.520 the courthouse under heavy guard wearing a kevlar bulletprin fest. 0:11:01.760 --> 0:11:05.359 The four defendants were seated in a specially constructed bulletproof 0:11:05.480 --> 0:11:09.160 glass cage in front of the courtroom. I spoke to 0:11:09.200 --> 0:11:12.439 a broadcast journalist from the French TV channel France Du 0:11:12.880 --> 0:11:16.480 named Jasmino Farber, who was dispatched to Belgium to cover 0:11:16.559 --> 0:11:17.000 the trial. 0:11:17.760 --> 0:11:21.360 I was a senior reporter for the Friends two channel 0:11:21.640 --> 0:11:25.640 when I was assigned to this trial of Marduttru. We 0:11:25.640 --> 0:11:30.439 were three or four journalists, which is not so often 0:11:30.600 --> 0:11:34.560 in France to be many journalists to cover a trial. 0:11:34.960 --> 0:11:38.600 So this was a really big, big case for us 0:11:38.679 --> 0:11:42.600 even in France. The story and the case of Mandutru 0:11:42.960 --> 0:11:47.480 had a big, big rotantisman, big echo for us in France. 0:11:47.600 --> 0:11:50.800 We were really shocked about what happened at this time, 0:11:51.559 --> 0:11:55.880 so in the spirit of the French people, it was 0:11:56.040 --> 0:12:00.920 also very important to hear the end of the story 0:12:01.080 --> 0:12:05.880 of Markdutru. So I dived into the dossier and the 0:12:06.200 --> 0:12:10.320 horror of the facts, and the first reflex is to 0:12:10.360 --> 0:12:15.600 introduce Margdutru as a monster child killer. But I usually 0:12:15.800 --> 0:12:20.880 strive to avoid simplistic narratives in my work. For example, 0:12:21.360 --> 0:12:23.840 I had the opportunity to cover the trial of two 0:12:23.880 --> 0:12:28.679 famous serial killers in France, Guigeorge and Patris Aleg and 0:12:28.760 --> 0:12:34.080 they raped and killed women. The facts were terrifying. However, 0:12:34.200 --> 0:12:36.760 during the trial we formd a bit of humanity and 0:12:36.840 --> 0:12:41.600 fragility in these guys, even if their actions were dreadful. 0:12:42.320 --> 0:12:45.640 But in the case of Margdutru, I must say that 0:12:45.960 --> 0:12:51.520 I never found an ounce of humanity, nor in the attitude, 0:12:51.880 --> 0:12:58.520 neither in his eyes. Quite the contrary. This strengthened opinion 0:12:59.120 --> 0:13:04.080 that there was nothing readeemable in this man. For example, 0:13:04.320 --> 0:13:08.160 markdut who told the jury he was the victim. It 0:13:08.320 --> 0:13:13.680 said that he protected the little girls from a terrible danger. 0:13:14.160 --> 0:13:18.400 But what is more terrible that happened to his victims. 0:13:18.600 --> 0:13:22.280 We had to listen to him till like you feel sick. 0:13:22.960 --> 0:13:27.880 He never second guest himself or showed any form of 0:13:28.320 --> 0:13:33.600 regret during the trial. I remember he tried to appear 0:13:33.800 --> 0:13:39.560 like an intellectual, very proud of himself, with his little glasses, 0:13:40.000 --> 0:13:44.880 he sued his little notes. I remember when he talked 0:13:44.960 --> 0:13:48.800 about his childhood, he said that he had no ice 0:13:48.880 --> 0:13:55.040 cream during terrible summer holidays. Imagine what it feels for 0:13:55.160 --> 0:13:59.000 a kid, he said. And so when you listen to this, 0:13:59.520 --> 0:14:02.640 you are you're in the audience, but you think you 0:14:02.720 --> 0:14:07.720 are dreaming or making a nightmare. So that's the memories 0:14:07.760 --> 0:14:12.480 I have of this guy behind this window, very quiet 0:14:12.640 --> 0:14:16.000 and very calm. And even you know that he fell 0:14:16.080 --> 0:14:19.600 asleep the first day of the trial. So that was 0:14:19.720 --> 0:14:24.680 really crazy. And really I was struck by the dignity 0:14:25.200 --> 0:14:28.040 of the parents and the families. Really you had to 0:14:28.160 --> 0:14:34.960 keep your calm because he was just unbearable. It's simple, Sve. 0:14:35.360 --> 0:14:38.040 This span is the first time in my life, and 0:14:38.600 --> 0:14:41.360 I made many trials. The first time in my life, 0:14:41.360 --> 0:14:46.560 I say, Okay, you can't change this guy. And maybe 0:14:46.880 --> 0:14:48.920 it's the picture of the monster. 0:14:50.000 --> 0:14:52.840 When the trial finally kicked off, there was, however, an 0:14:52.920 --> 0:14:57.880 important absence. Gino and Karine Rousseau, the mother and father 0:14:57.960 --> 0:15:03.560 of Melissa Russo, boycott the entire trial. They never accepted 0:15:03.600 --> 0:15:07.240 how the previous investigating judge Conrad had been removed from 0:15:07.240 --> 0:15:11.160 the case, and were unhappy with how his replacement, Judge l'anglois, 0:15:11.360 --> 0:15:15.040 had put together the trial. In an open letter published 0:15:15.040 --> 0:15:19.200 by the national newspaper Lessois, they wrote, quote, because of 0:15:19.240 --> 0:15:23.600 the limited scope of police investigations in forensic examination, we 0:15:23.720 --> 0:15:26.120 do not know all of the truth about the tragic 0:15:26.240 --> 0:15:30.080 end of Julian Melissa, the exact circumstances of their abduction, 0:15:30.600 --> 0:15:34.280 and the possible and not yet revealed complicities from which 0:15:34.360 --> 0:15:39.120 the true and his associates could have benefited. Unquote. I 0:15:39.240 --> 0:15:43.040 asked the investigative journalist Douglas d' konig about the Rousseau's 0:15:43.040 --> 0:15:44.560 decision to boycott the trial. 0:15:45.120 --> 0:15:48.080 Well, there were from their point of view, and from 0:15:48.080 --> 0:15:52.200 a right point of view, there were too many unanswered questions. 0:15:52.400 --> 0:15:56.280 They had been arguing with the team of Charqulancois for years, 0:15:56.440 --> 0:16:00.240 having all kinds of questions that every normal person would 0:16:00.280 --> 0:16:04.280 have had. I think going from Hotel Brazil, the place 0:16:04.320 --> 0:16:09.120 where Julia and Melissa were kidnapped, where Chaqueslanglois failed to 0:16:09.200 --> 0:16:12.200 prove to make his point because during a trial, jurors 0:16:12.200 --> 0:16:15.560 have the right to ask questions, and day after day 0:16:15.840 --> 0:16:19.200 it was the jury that was leading the debates. That 0:16:19.280 --> 0:16:22.200 was very strange for us, because they asked the right questions. 0:16:22.400 --> 0:16:25.240 I remember this one lady number twelve was lost of 0:16:25.320 --> 0:16:29.120 the twelve jurors. She did this in a very mutual way, 0:16:29.160 --> 0:16:32.720 in a very polite way. She took over the role 0:16:32.760 --> 0:16:37.080 that the Russos might have played in this trial. So, 0:16:37.200 --> 0:16:40.600 for example, the location where Julia and Melissa were kidnapped 0:16:41.040 --> 0:16:44.480 may seem a detail, but it isn't because most people 0:16:44.560 --> 0:16:47.680 who know the investigations say that they have been kidnapped 0:16:47.720 --> 0:16:50.360 on the motorway in Clausolgnia. There are a lot of 0:16:50.480 --> 0:16:53.800 witnesses talking about the red Ford Fiesta. That's what the 0:16:53.880 --> 0:16:57.080 Russo's think as well, because I remember the first, the 0:16:57.200 --> 0:17:00.200 very first witness of one of the very firsts. I 0:17:00.240 --> 0:17:04.000 think this was a very ordinary guy, a policeman, and 0:17:04.040 --> 0:17:06.400 they asked him, yes, sir, can you present yourself? Well, 0:17:06.520 --> 0:17:10.919 I'm a policeman and I work with a dog. The 0:17:11.000 --> 0:17:13.600 day of the kidnapping of Julia and Melissa, he and 0:17:13.640 --> 0:17:16.960 his dog smelled at a pillow of Julia len and 0:17:16.960 --> 0:17:21.080 he went straight to the roots red Ford Fiesta place. 0:17:21.119 --> 0:17:24.000 That's where it all starts. And then long grew a 0:17:24.000 --> 0:17:27.159 few days later appeared with It was very new in 0:17:27.200 --> 0:17:30.520 those days, but he brought in a PowerPoint with thousands 0:17:30.560 --> 0:17:32.840 of slides just to try and to prove that no, no, no, 0:17:32.880 --> 0:17:36.920 the dog was wrong. He had found an old, ninety 0:17:37.000 --> 0:17:41.440 year old lady who's sitting behind her window. She would 0:17:41.440 --> 0:17:44.800 have seen the kidnapping, and this would exclude the whole 0:17:44.880 --> 0:17:48.520 Fort Fiesta thing. And then he had these jurors. They 0:17:48.600 --> 0:17:52.119 just raised their hands and they started asking one question 0:17:52.200 --> 0:17:55.439 after another, and it was obvious that they didn't believe 0:17:55.960 --> 0:17:57.639 a word of what Langlois was saying. 0:17:59.160 --> 0:18:02.000 You may recall that way back in episode two, I 0:18:02.080 --> 0:18:06.360 discussed the various witness reports following the disappearance of Julian Melissa. 0:18:07.440 --> 0:18:10.320 There were several witnesses who claimed to have seen a 0:18:10.400 --> 0:18:13.520 red Ford fiesta on the side of the highway under 0:18:13.560 --> 0:18:17.240 the bridge where the girls disappeared, as well as another 0:18:17.280 --> 0:18:20.240 witness who claimed that someone in a red Ford fiesta 0:18:20.359 --> 0:18:23.679 tried to kidnap her daughter and friend nearby on the 0:18:23.760 --> 0:18:28.399 same day. There was also another witness statement that conflicted 0:18:28.400 --> 0:18:32.600 with these sightings, an elderly woman named Marie Louise Henrote, 0:18:32.640 --> 0:18:35.040 who thought she saw the girls get into a dark 0:18:35.119 --> 0:18:37.520 car on one of the side roads near the highway. 0:18:38.800 --> 0:18:41.960 The point here is that Judge Lanlois decided to go 0:18:42.040 --> 0:18:45.280 with the elderly woman's version of events for the reconstitution 0:18:45.400 --> 0:18:49.760 of the girl's disappearance and subsequent investigations, and therefore didn't 0:18:49.800 --> 0:18:54.080 pursue the red Ford Fiesta. Not exploring the red Ford 0:18:54.119 --> 0:18:58.720 Fiesta was significant and downplayed the possible existence of other parties. 0:19:00.080 --> 0:19:03.720 Rousseau's were not at the trial. Surviving victims Sabin Darden 0:19:03.880 --> 0:19:07.720 and Laticia de Leis were in attendance. The media scrum 0:19:07.800 --> 0:19:11.160 went into a frenzy when they entered the courtroom. When 0:19:11.160 --> 0:19:14.200 Sabin Darden took to the stand, she was very different 0:19:14.240 --> 0:19:16.600 from the twelve year old girl we saw rescued from 0:19:16.600 --> 0:19:19.440 the Truce House of Horrors back in nineteen ninety six. 0:19:20.440 --> 0:19:24.320 At twenty one, Sabine entered the courtroom with confidence. She 0:19:24.480 --> 0:19:28.440 faced her tormented directly and spoke with courage and determination. 0:19:29.720 --> 0:19:32.840 Journalist Jesmina Farbert brings us back to the scene. 0:19:33.320 --> 0:19:36.719 We all remember the pictures of the liberation of Sabin 0:19:36.800 --> 0:19:40.879 Darden and Leticia de Lea, and Sabin crying in the 0:19:41.119 --> 0:19:45.840 arms of her parents and saying I missed you so much. 0:19:46.480 --> 0:19:50.760 So the testimony of the survivors is always a high 0:19:50.800 --> 0:19:55.440 point in a trial because it puts the cues facing 0:19:55.560 --> 0:20:00.840 his acts. The death people can talk, the survivor are 0:20:00.960 --> 0:20:05.960 their voices. Sabin faced this severe test with such a dignity, 0:20:06.080 --> 0:20:10.080 such a bravery. She knew that when she entered the 0:20:10.160 --> 0:20:13.719 court she would face but trux, so she decided to 0:20:13.760 --> 0:20:16.159 look him in the eyes to get rid of this 0:20:16.359 --> 0:20:21.000 problem and stress. She described markdutt Hou like a perverse, 0:20:21.280 --> 0:20:25.480 like a madman. She told that margut Hou was saying 0:20:25.560 --> 0:20:28.760 to her every day, you are my wife, You are 0:20:28.840 --> 0:20:34.000 my new wife. She also remembered his arrogance. He was 0:20:34.040 --> 0:20:38.640 so proud, for example, to say that he built the fireplace. 0:20:38.920 --> 0:20:42.680 He was proud of everything. I was really really shocked 0:20:42.840 --> 0:20:47.159 when she told usdtt Hou told this little girl of 0:20:47.440 --> 0:20:51.880 twelve years old that her parents didn't want to pay 0:20:51.920 --> 0:20:57.440 the ransom, and that he protected Sabin from people who 0:20:57.760 --> 0:21:03.480 wanted to harm her. Sabin in the dungeon she wrote letters, 0:21:04.119 --> 0:21:08.840 so dutru took the letters and of course never sent them, 0:21:09.200 --> 0:21:14.280 so he really was a perverse and he told her 0:21:14.640 --> 0:21:18.600 this little girl it was a moral torture more than 0:21:18.640 --> 0:21:22.920 a physical torture. Also because she was raped also every day, 0:21:23.520 --> 0:21:28.159 so this was really disgusting. Michelle Martin, the wife of 0:21:28.480 --> 0:21:33.600 Mark dut Russe, said she was sorry, but Sabin said 0:21:33.800 --> 0:21:37.960 that she couldn't forgive because Michelle Martin knew everything. She 0:21:38.240 --> 0:21:41.080 saw them, She saw the girls, and she saw the 0:21:41.119 --> 0:21:43.960 girls going down, going up in the rooms and going 0:21:44.040 --> 0:21:47.639 down and going up, so she couldn't forgive. Michelle Martin. 0:21:49.160 --> 0:21:52.840 I've spoken with many people who experienced this trial firsthand, 0:21:53.640 --> 0:21:56.159 and every single one of them was an agreement that 0:21:56.200 --> 0:21:59.200 there was one particular event that marked them for life. 0:22:00.640 --> 0:22:03.320 It was the out of court visit of the actual 0:22:03.400 --> 0:22:08.800 dungeon in the Truz House in Marsinel, where jurors, lawyers, journalists, 0:22:08.840 --> 0:22:11.439 and family members got to see the horror of this 0:22:11.600 --> 0:22:15.960 place first hand, and victims Sabine and Letitia returned to 0:22:16.000 --> 0:22:18.000 the side of their appalling experience. 0:22:19.520 --> 0:22:22.960 Today, victims, parents and members of the jury were given 0:22:23.000 --> 0:22:26.520 a guided tour around a family home now taken apart 0:22:26.600 --> 0:22:30.720 by detectives. It was the site of the hidden dungeon 0:22:30.800 --> 0:22:34.680 that reduced most to tears. Locked in a tiny room 0:22:35.160 --> 0:22:38.920 three feet by six feet, eight year old's Julia Melissa 0:22:39.040 --> 0:22:43.080 starved to death. Julie's name is barely visible. 0:22:42.640 --> 0:22:43.160 On the wall. 0:22:44.200 --> 0:22:47.240 Only a handful of journalists were allowed to participate in 0:22:47.280 --> 0:22:50.920 the visit of d' tru's house. Douglas d'connig was one 0:22:50.960 --> 0:22:52.000 of them. 0:22:52.600 --> 0:22:56.520 To me the moments who marked me as a as 0:22:56.560 --> 0:22:58.399 a human being, of course, it would be the visit 0:22:59.040 --> 0:23:03.560 of the gates in Martinel. This was a feeling during 0:23:03.600 --> 0:23:05.760 two minutes because we only were led in a few 0:23:05.800 --> 0:23:10.000 minutes in couples. I was with a journalists of a 0:23:10.040 --> 0:23:12.879 liber Belgic just two of us for two minutes in 0:23:12.920 --> 0:23:18.200 that cage, and it was the fear, the feeling of, 0:23:18.560 --> 0:23:22.639 how do you say it, experienced by two minutes what 0:23:23.680 --> 0:23:27.720 Sabin a Letitia and Julia Melissa must have experienced. This 0:23:29.840 --> 0:23:33.040 there's no words to describe it. You can't even you 0:23:33.080 --> 0:23:36.360 can't stand up in that cage. I'm not very cloustrophobic, 0:23:36.440 --> 0:23:39.800 but I was at that moment in a very intense way. 0:23:40.840 --> 0:23:43.880 Again, French journalists, he has mina farber. 0:23:44.359 --> 0:23:48.959 Side visits during a trial are called in French transport 0:23:49.280 --> 0:23:54.200 justice and they are quite rare. Obviously, it's a key 0:23:54.280 --> 0:23:59.560 moment in a trial. To go down these stairs, to 0:23:59.640 --> 0:24:04.400 get down into the dungeon of Marcinelle was a journey 0:24:04.760 --> 0:24:11.280 to the bottom of hell. Judges, lawyers, survivors, members of 0:24:11.359 --> 0:24:16.640 the jury, journalists could touch the horror with their eyes. 0:24:17.240 --> 0:24:20.760 And I remember the footages that I used for the news, 0:24:21.680 --> 0:24:26.919 the bus arriving, and how Sabine looked at the exterior 0:24:27.520 --> 0:24:31.119 of the locations, and of course because she only knew 0:24:31.160 --> 0:24:32.640 the inside of it. 0:24:34.080 --> 0:24:38.439 Facing up to personal horror. Sabine Darden and Letitia Delay 0:24:39.000 --> 0:24:42.200 young women returning to the house where they'd been held hostage, 0:24:42.240 --> 0:24:46.480 just children. What happened inside this house shocked to nation 0:24:46.680 --> 0:24:48.040 and left four girls dead. 0:24:49.240 --> 0:24:54.000 The reaction of Leticia Dole, who is going out of 0:24:54.119 --> 0:25:00.240 the dungeon crying, sella, mehrda, so it's shit, it's wh it. 0:25:01.240 --> 0:25:09.560 The memories too much for Letitia murder, reaching instinctively for Sabine, 0:25:10.200 --> 0:25:14.560 seeking comfort from their shared pain. Together, they spent eighty 0:25:14.640 --> 0:25:18.600 six days in the Truce dungeon. In contrast, the true 0:25:18.680 --> 0:25:22.320 showed no emotion, boasting about how he'd built the cellar, 0:25:23.040 --> 0:25:26.399 unmoved by the bed where he changed his victims, or 0:25:26.440 --> 0:25:28.920 the pleading handmark outlined on the window. 0:25:30.600 --> 0:25:34.480 The father of Al Marshall told us when he came back, 0:25:35.000 --> 0:25:39.840 you don't put animals in this place, and he put children. 0:25:40.640 --> 0:25:44.200 My boss was one of the few journalists who had 0:25:44.560 --> 0:25:49.360 received credentials to go to the dungeon. I saw him 0:25:49.720 --> 0:25:54.160 come back so pale. He told us it was beyond 0:25:54.359 --> 0:25:59.080 anything one could imagine. He told that he saw on 0:25:59.240 --> 0:26:04.720 the yellow role an inscription with a black pencil left 0:26:04.920 --> 0:26:10.040 by one of the victims, was written Julie. I was 0:26:10.080 --> 0:26:15.120 watching the live and I cried, and Dominique ended the live, 0:26:15.760 --> 0:26:19.840 and he left his microphone and he went to walk, 0:26:21.000 --> 0:26:24.600 and he didn't come to see us in the technical truck. 0:26:25.200 --> 0:26:28.199 He often told me that he was shocked for the 0:26:28.280 --> 0:26:32.960 rest of his life. And Dominique covered hundreds of trials 0:26:33.000 --> 0:26:37.720 and very difficult criminal tries. I came back in Paris 0:26:37.760 --> 0:26:41.560 after three or four months to cover this case. I 0:26:41.640 --> 0:26:44.800 told my other boss, the big Boss. I said, okay 0:26:44.840 --> 0:26:47.640 for me, it's over. I don't want to make any 0:26:47.720 --> 0:26:48.320 trial again. 0:26:48.960 --> 0:26:49.399 I can't. 0:26:49.480 --> 0:26:54.160 I just can't anymore. I was sick, really, I really 0:26:54.240 --> 0:27:00.000 felt like my body it was hurting everywhere. It's difficult 0:27:00.119 --> 0:27:04.480 after to come back to life because when you know 0:27:04.880 --> 0:27:10.240 what people what they lived, and it's a vision of 0:27:10.320 --> 0:27:17.720 humanity which is a hopeless And I went told so 0:27:17.920 --> 0:27:24.000 to war war scenes and I saw difficult stuff. But 0:27:24.640 --> 0:27:30.320 I think the true case was one of the most 0:27:30.320 --> 0:27:32.440 shocking story of my life. 0:27:35.480 --> 0:27:39.320 Hearing these accounts reminds me of something Karine Rousseau said 0:27:39.320 --> 0:27:42.720 to me during our interview. She said that although she 0:27:42.840 --> 0:27:46.800