the lawyer who won the trust of Monique Olivier

How do you establish a relationship of trust with a woman you have been asked to defend and who is none other than the wife of a serial killer? Me Delgenes, Monique Olivier’s lawyer, has agreed to tell a scene that dates back to 2004 and takes place behind the scenes of the Estelle Mouzin affair: that of the very first meeting with his client at the remand center of ‘Arlon, Belgium. At the time, serial killer Michel Fourniret was arrested for trying to kidnap a young girl and Monique Olivier began talking to investigators, citing a series of murders and rapes. “The first time, the client does not trust his lawyer. You have to get to know each other a minimum”, explains Me Delgenes, at the microphone of Chloé Triomphe in the podcast “L’Ombre”.

Monique Olivier is not talkative, but the lawyer describes her as someone “sympathetic”. difficult to have a long conversation with her. We feel that she is suspicious, “summarizes Richard Delgenes. This meeting is the starting point of a relationship of almost 20 years between the criminal lawyer and a client who transformed his vision of justice. And whose confidence he learned to gain little by little.

>> Find our special file on the Estelle Mouzin affair and the shadow of Michel Fourniret by clicking here

In 2021, after the death of Michel Fourniret, the situation has radically changed: Monique Olivier finds herself alone in the face of justice to answer for the crimes and rapes committed by the serial killer with her complicity. Without the presence of Fourniret, she now seems less reluctant to speak of the disappearance of Estelle Mouzin, in 2003, in Guermantes, one of the files where the material evidence is the least numerous. The lawyer Me Delgenes explains her change of attitude as follows: “She does not want to ‘take’ for Michel Fourniret, and as soon as we start to question her, that is what blocks her. She wants to be held guilty for what she did, as an accomplice, and not for the rest.”

And to gain her trust definitively, Me Delgenes assumes to sometimes use unorthodox methods, such as introducing a dog into the office of the examining magistrate during interrogations to create a peaceful atmosphere. “Monique Olivier likes animals, because she was working to train blind dogs in remand centers. Dogs bring her a lot of calm”, he justifies. For the criminal lawyer, whose role remains to defend his client, the truth is also at this price.

To discover other unseen scenes from this great criminal affair, listen to “L’Ombre”, Chloé Triomphe’s counter-investigation into the disappearance of Estelle Mouzin.