Ex-soldier who murdered eight-year-old girl he abducted from wedding reception jailed for life

Nordahl Lelandais convicted at conclusion of trial that gripped France

Maelys de Araujo was 8 when abducted and killed (AP)

A former French soldier has been sentenced to life for killing an eight-year-old girl he abducted from a wedding celebration.

The murder of Maelys de Araujo in 2017 shocked France and the trial of her killer Nordahl Lelandais gripped the nation.

He was jailed for life with a minimum of 22 years at Grenoble courthouse in eastern France.

Lelandais, 39, was also convicted of sexually assaulting two cousins, aged four and six.

Prosecutor Jacques Dalles argued that the defendant represented a “considerable social danger” despite efforts to rehabilitate himself while in prison, including reading books on Buddhism.

Lelandais, a dog trainer, broke down in court as he admitted to taking Maelys and striking her violently “three or four times” when she cried. He said he had not meant to kill her but later admitted he did so willingly.

Lelandais was invited to the wedding at the last minute, providing cocaine to some guests. At 2.40am he asked the young girl if she wanted to come to his car to see his dogs. Other guests were busy celebrating as she was led away, later to be killed.

‘Considerable social danger’: Lelandais has been convicted of two murders (Facebook)

The killer had earlier led investigators to the site where he buried Maelys, several miles from the wedding location.

He denied he had a sexual motive for the attack, but the prosecution rejected this. He was not charged with rape as investigators were not able to prove that Maelys was sexually assaulted.

Lelandais has been described by psychiatric experts as psychopathic, narcissistic and a pathological liar. He was convicted last year for the bludgeoning death of a soldier.

Jennifer Cleyet-Marrel holds a photo of her daughter outside the court, with Maelys’s father Joachim, sister Colleen and lawyer Fabien Rajon (AFP/Getty)

In a statement before the court recessed to consider the verdict, Lelandais admitted all charges against him and offered an apology.

“I know the families will never accept my excuses, but I present them with the greatest sincerity,” he said, adding that he understood the “lengthy” period of introspection ahead of him which he said he has already started.

Alain Jakubowicz, Lelandais’s lawyer, called his client’s confession during the trial “a small ray of hope on the road to redemption”, and asked the court not to hand down a life sentence.

Police at Saint-Franc in the Savoie region of France in 2018, where a forest was searched after Maelys’s disappearance (AFP/Getty)

Lelandais was sentenced last year to 20 years in prison for the murder of Arthur Noyer, a hitchhiking soldier, after he left a gay dance club in April 20, four months before he murdered Maelys.

He said he killed the girl after he experienced a “hallucination” and saw Mr Noyer’s image in her face.

The French public had keenly followed the trial with Maelys’s face, taken from a family photo her mother clutched in court, becoming a staple on the nightly news.

Additional reporting by AP