Brossard found guilty of murdering French banker

Cecile Brossard, the woman who shot dead France's 38th richest man while he was tied to a chair during a sadomasochistic sex session, has been found guilty of murder rather than the lesser 'crime of passion' under Swiss law for which her lawyers had argued. She was jailed for eight years.
 
The 15-member jury at the high court in Geneva decided that Brossard, a 40-year-old former shop assistant turned artist, acted out of hatred and greed rather than passion when she shot 50-year-old Edouard Stern four times with his own gun in February 2005. Stern's family, one of France's richest banking dynasties, argued that she was a "venomous" killer who had murdered her lover when he threatened to take back a gift of $1 million, which she had demanded as "proof of his love". Prosecuting lawyer Marc Bonnant (above) called her "duplicitous".
 
Brossard pleaded guilty to the killing at the start of the emotionally charged six-day trial, but claimed to have been driven to a 'moment of madness' by her millionaire lover during their kinky sex session. Stern, dressed in a flesh-coloured latex bodysuit and mask, tormented her over the million-dollar gift, saying: "A million dollars is a lot of money to pay for a whore."  

"When I heard that I understood I would never be his wife," Brossard told the court. "I wanted to carry his name; it was a little girl's dream. My head, my heart imploded."
 
Her lawyers focused on the nature of the unequal relationship between the powerful French financier, whose friends included President Nicolas Sarkozy, and the uneducated and mentally fragile woman who was simply "human game" for Stern. For the second time in the trial, Brossard turned to Stern's estranged wife Beatrice and his three daughters, apologising for his murder "from the bottom of my heart".
 
But although the jury found that Brossard had been in a highly disturbed state when she fired the gun, she was "at least partially responsible for the emotion which had overcome her" and the situation she was in.

Daniel Zappelli, the Geneva chief prosecutor, said Brossard’s actions immediately after the shooting showed she had been motivated by the possibility of losing her financial gift. After cleaning up Stern’s luxury apartment, Brossard fled to Italy and Australia, stopping between flights to check her bank balance. "It was not love that killed, but hate and money," Zappelli said.
 
Brossard escaped the maximum Swiss jail term of 20 years because of diminished responsibility. Having already served four years on remand, she could be free in two years' time with good behaviour. ·