We are in the spring of 2014, on the Côte d’Azur. The pale sun of May stretches across the beige facade of l’Archet hospital in Nice. It is 7:10 p.m. when Hélène Pastor, 77, comes out. She visited her son Gildo like every day since he suffered a stroke from which he is slowly recovering. In the parking lot, the driver’s son, Mohamed Darwich, attends “Madame” in the Lancia Voyager with the tinted windows. She settles in the passenger seat and asks him to start.

It is then that a hooded man, entirely dressed in black, appears and shoots twice in the cockpit. Then he fled with a watchful accomplice to cross the crowd. Seriously injured in the face and thorax by a salvo of shotgun pellets, the passenger was admitted to intensive care, registered under a false identity for her protection. His driver is even worse off. He died four days later at the age of 54.

As soon as the tragedy was announced, the principality was in shock. Prince Albert of Monaco immediately expressed his “ strong emotion “And son” very deep support »To the Pasteur. The notoriety of the victim and his family forced the Nice judicial police to resolve the case as quickly as possible. Questioned on her hospital bed, Hélène Pastor provided few elements, but confided to the commander of the brigade: “ I am afraid, I want to see you again, I have chosen another to tell you. »She died a few days later, on May 21, without having been able to reveal her secret.

“The two performers didn’t bother to cover their tracks, leaving their DNA behind in the hotel where they stayed. ”

Described as ” fearful »By his family, the heiress of the Monegasque dynasty announced the desires. Its real estate assets amount to at least 12 billion euros. A park of several apartments is not personally taken care of through six management companies. Discreet, a habit little marked by social events, she went out little according to her relatives, had to hide all her valuables in her safe and double locked herself at home. Would his hospital visits have been an opportunity to reach? And in which corn?

The investigation, served by the amateurism of the two executors, quickly identifies the lookout and the gunman of the shooting, two Comorians filmed with their faces uncovered by the surveillance cameras of the hospital. The pair didn’t bother to cover their tracks, taking taxis to get around rather than the more anonymous public transport, leaving their DNA behind in the hotel where they stayed. They also kept their phone chips after the murder so that, wiretapped, they handed over the entire chain of command of the ambush to Hélène Pastor and her driver with Wojciech Janowski, the genre’s own kind, at its head. heiress!

Arrested on June 23, the businessman, honorary consul of Poland in Monaco, decorated with the National Order of Merit for his charitable works, ended up confessing the incredible truth. ” Yes, I ordered the murder […] I was the decision maker, I delegated, I expected results », He confesses. He explains that he acted to free his company from a tyrannical mother who “ psychically mistreated “. ” It was my only motivation », He specifies. A murder plotted in the shadows for two years, made possible thanks to his sports coach, Pascal Dauriac. “ There is a saying that the opportunity makes the thief. Dauriac was the opportunity », He concludes, relentless.

“He explained to me that his mother-in-law was a monster, heartless and ruthless. ”

In audition, the coach confirms the version of the sponsor. Employed for twelve years by Janowski and his company Sylvia Pastor, daughter of Hélène, he trained the couple twice a week. A proximity was created then and the Pole had asked him to recruit henchmen to take care of his mother-in-law, who had become his obsession. He had also wished the death of the driver to confuse the issue. Blood price: 140,000 euros including 30,000 for Dauriac who dreamed of opening a gym in Monaco. ” He explained to me that his mother-in-law was a monster, heartless and ruthless the coach is justified. I fully assume my responsibilities, I must atone. Pascal Dauriac then approached his brother-in-law, who, among other intermediaries, was the recruiter of the two Comorians at the end of the chain. In 50 days, the investigation was completed and the Rock was speechless.

Within the Pastor family, it was a shock wave, particularly for Sylvia Ratkowski-Pastor, daughter of the victim and companion of the ordering party. ” The sky has fallen on his head, explains an investigation by the judicial police. She remembered that the day before the incident, before leaving on a trip to Poland, her companion had forbidden her to go see her brother [qui était à l’hôpital] with his mother this May 6 in Nice. She understood that she too could have been a victim. “

Her fear is redoubled when she discovers that her companion for 28 years, ” the man of his life », Father of her second daughter and whom she trusted to manage the household money, had robbed her by diverting nearly 80% of her annual income of more than 9 million euros for her own business. She gave him, in fact, each month a blank check to pay her first daughter’s school fees, pay for some trips and expenses on their boat, a four-story yacht. “ An amount avoiding at most 200,000 euros She thought.

“If something happens to you, I have nothing left.” ”

The myth of the one who had seduced her and whom she admired collapsing. However, their life seemed so wonderful in their hushed Monegasque setting. Sylvia worked with her mother in the rental management of the family’s real estate assets and received a remuneration of around 8,000 euros in addition to the half a million annuity paid monthly by Hélène Pastor. A mother ” very hard “, But of which she was” close “And who did not exercise” no harassment », She will say to the investigators.

For her personal occupations, Sylvia, like many wealthy Monegasques, was involved in good works and the promotion of floral art within the Garden Club of Monaco founded by Princess Grace. She wants Wojciech, ” a top secret businessman ” who ” earned a very good living », Was busy managing his various companies from which he received the hefty dividends. A selfless man who came to the aid of his less fortunate Polish compatriots through charitable works.

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In reality, the man had opened several companies which were never profitable. He had placed a mortgage on the couple’s house in London, increased the amounts of bills he never presented to Sylvia, and went on “the cavalry” of paying off a new loan from an old one and so on.

In 2011, the noose tightened around Wojciech Janowski when Sylvia discovered that she had cancer. ” If something happens to you, I have nothing left He blurted out. Not being married to the heiress Pastor, the man would fear being kicked out by his mother-in-law if Sylvia did not get over it.

“He was opposed throughout the proceedings with a permanent contempt, a contempt for class. ”

” Sylvia’s death (…) would have had the loss of enjoyment of the 500,000 euros monthly that Hélène Pastor would have succeeded for her daughter. He would also have touched nothing of the inheritance of his company which had not written it down in his will, and he had nothing to hope for from the Pastor family who considered him as an upstart profiteer. Pending the premature death of Hélène Pastor, [Janowski] would allow his daughter to inherit a significant portion of her mother’s fortune which he could hope to take control of », Conclusion of the indictment.

Returned to the Aix-en-Provence Assize Court in September 2018, Wojciech Janowski presented himself at the opening of the proceedings as an innocent person whose confessions were extorted by investigators during his police custody. But on the eve of the verdict, a dramatic twist! One of his lawyers, Maître Éric Dupont-Moretti, confesses for his client. ” Wojciech Janowski is guilty of having ordered the assassination of Hélène Pastor. These words that you expect from him come out of my mouth. These words, he tried to express them, he wanted to express himself but was not believed, he was opposed throughout the procedure with a permanent contempt, a contempt for class. Son client collapses. The next day, he was sentenced to life imprisonment.

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From this Monday, the accused, who oscillates between “ fear and hope “According to his master counsel Jean-Jacques Campana, will plead not guilty before the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal. “ His position is that he confessed in police custody so that his partner, also auditioned, could go out free and take her treatment that she did not have with her. He wanted to save her », Declared Master Campana to Marianne. ” Regarding those formulated during his trial, he had not given a mandate to his lawyer to do so He continues.

The lawyer regrets, moreover, a non-exhaustive investigation. “ The police worked loyally, but very quickly. She was satisfied with the first observations without really taking an interest in other suspects. The truth, we do not know it, but we wait for questions, and for the court to question itself. Little visited in detention, Wojciech Janowski, 72, today maintains a thin letter of correspondence with his daughter. Last Christmas, he got her a Swatch watch, a far cry from the lavish gifts of her past life.

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