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This Friday, the Belgian justice sentenced an 89-year-old woman to 10 years in prison for the stabbing of her 93-year-old best friend, who had designated her as his legatee for much of his fortune.
Clara Maes, who was 84 years old at the time of the events, has always denied the murder during the investigation and during the trial that took place this week in a court in Arlon, in the south of French-speaking Belgium.
A jury court found her guilty and she was sentenced to 10 years in prison, but she was not arrested after the verdict was announced.
“His health condition does not allow him to be detained in a prison,” said his lawyer, Emilie Romani, contacted by France Presse.
It is up to the Liège prosecutor to enforce the sentence, but “‘a priori’ there should be no execution of the sentence,” said the lawyer, saying that her client had returned to the house where she lives.
Clara Maes’s trial drew attention due to the age of the accused, with reduced mobility and almost always in silence, except when she repeated the answer “I don’t remember.”
The crime took place on January 3, 2015. The body of the victim, Suzanne Thibeau, was found in the house where she lived in the early afternoon by a friendly couple.
The investigation revealed that she had received a visit from her friend Clara in the morning, the last person to see her alive, becoming the main suspect in the crime due to the lack of evidence of forced entry into the house and inconsistencies in her explanations. that is, about a change of clothes on the day of the crime.
Traces of the victim’s DNA were also found in the defendant’s vehicle, which was apparently stained with blood, according to the investigation.
Witnesses explained that the relationship between the two friends had deteriorated and, according to a lawyer for the civil parties, Marc Kauten, “Suzanne certainly told Clara that she was going to change the will.”
Widowed and childless, Suzanne had designated Clara as her legate for 70% of her assets. The defendant had already received a donation of around 300,000 euros from the victim, according to a notarized document from September 2014.
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