RANCON: THE UNBEARABLE TRIAL | M6 | 66 minutes

It’s the trial of one of the worst serial killers in France, or, at least, one of the bloodiest. Between March 5 and 26, the Perpignan Court of Assize will try Jacques Rançon, 58, accused of having murdered and cut up two young girls, Mokhtaria Chaïb and Marie Hélène Gonzales, in 1997 and 1998, in the train station area.

On the victims’ benches are two distraught families: the brother of Mokhtaria and the mother of Marie Hélène Gonzales. Etienne Nicolau, a foremost lawyer in Perpignan, is their counsel. For 20 years now he has been supporting the families. Etienne Nicolau is also the lawyer for Sabrina Houenou, the survivor. In March 1998, Jacques Rançon stabbed her in the stomach and cut her throat right in the center of Perpignan. Her life was saved thanks to the intervention of another woman, a neighbor, Marylin Sandret, who chased Jacques Rançon away at the risk of her own life. In an exclusive, we follow Marylin. She is not looking forward to this trail; she is afraid of seeing Jacques Rançon again. The trial will also provide her with an opportunity to see Sabrina, the survivor, again for the first time. She has never spoken.

Among the witnesses so intensely awaited at the trial will be Lolita, the last wife of Jacques Rançon. She met him when she was only 15 and he was 43. She had two children with him. He beat her constantly and, on the day she wanted to leave him, he tried to kill her. That was the day she reported him and Jacques Rançon was arrested. Lolita’s evidence is that most feared my Jacques Rançon’s lawyer, Xavier Capelet. Jacques Rançon faces the maximum penalty, life imprisonment with a minimum of 30 years. The verdict tomorrow (March 26).