"Laurent Gregoire, a 28-year-old computer programmer from France, met Indonesian-born Samba Rukmi Widhyastuti, 64, at a hostel in the French city of Bordeaux in November 2015, according to testimony before the court in the western city of Nantes. Investigators said the two had travelled together in Spain a few weeks later. Gregoire was last seen in Andorra, the small principality sandwiched between France and Spain. He was spotted leaving a hostel there carrying a backpack on September 12, 2016."
"Widhyastuti, who has denied any role in his disappearance, was arrested in 2019, and repeatedly changed her story in her testimony to investigators. Prosecutor Claire Loumadine said that after Gregoire disappeared, Widhyastuti, who was staying at the same hostel, only expressed concern a week later. At that point, she added, Widhyastuti played the grieving girlfriend. Widhyastuti initially told his family she had had news from Gregoire, with whom she had a romantic relationship, according to her testimony to investigators."
"Defence attorney Simon Despierre stressed that the case was "filled with hypotheses and uncertainties". He acknowledged the defendant's repeated lies and "explanations most certainly unbearable to hear for the loved ones waiting for answers". But he said she was not the calculating criminal the prosecution portrayed her as. Prosecutor Loumadine acknowledged the challenges of the case in her closing arguments. "This is an extremely difficult trial because you are being asked to judge a murder without a body and without confessions," she told the court."
Laurent Gregoire, a 28-year-old French computer programmer, met Indonesian-born Samba Rukmi Widhyastuti, 64, at a Bordeaux hostel in November 2015 and they later travelled together in Spain. Gregoire was last seen leaving a hostel in Andorra on September 12, 2016, carrying a backpack and subsequently vanished. Widhyastuti denied involvement but was arrested in 2019 and repeatedly changed her accounts to investigators and the victim's family, at times portraying a romantic relationship and at others claiming friendship. The five-day trial could not fully determine the relationship's nature; the defence pointed to uncertainties while prosecutors secured a conviction despite no body or confession.
Read at The Local France
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