Since September 22, the trial of Cédric Jubillar, the only suspect in the disappearance and murder of his wife Delphine Jubillar, has been held before the Tarn Assize Court. Every day, therefore, key witnesses take the stand to tell part of the story (and perhaps arrive at a truth?) This Wednesday, October 8, it was the turn of Nadine F. ex Jubillar, the mother of the accused to speak. And she did not fail to recall what makes her doubt her son today. A posture that may surprise you.
A mother who supports her son during separation
However, at the start, Nadine Jubillar announces it: she has undoubtedly done too much for her son. Born when she was only 16 years old, then placed in foster care, Cédric found his mother once at 7 years old and then as a teenager. “I didn’t abandon my son. I found myself on the street and in order to protect him, I asked for help.” So, consumed by guilt, she leaves him “do whatever he wants” according to his words.
When he meets Delphine, Nadine is reassured. “Delphine Jubillar is a gentle, shy, reserved woman, never one word louder than the other. who will channel his son. Then comes the birth of his grandchildren, then problems and separation. Nadine, who does not criticize her daughter-in-law’s position, nevertheless chooses not to interfere, even letting him “rip” her phone out of her hands to use it to geolocate the adulterous wife. “I tried to help him, I was even the one who made an appointment with the lawyer. I tried to support him as best I could” she justifies herself at the bar.
But a more incriminating word at the bar
But today it’s another damning interaction that she repeats to lawyers and the court. “It was one morning, he came a little after the opening with Elyah (their daughter). I found him angry, agitated. We went out, we discussed that Delphine wanted a divorce. While putting Elyah in the car, he told me: ‘I’m fed up, she annoys me, I’m going to bury her, no one is going to find her’ she delivers. “Today, I regret not having given more meaning to this sentence.” she admits in a sob.
She also repeats that a doubt has remained within her since the day after the disappearance: either Delphine Jubillar left Cédric to go with her lover and to teach a “lesson” to the father of her children. Either her son made a mistake and is involved in her disappearance. An idea that never let go.
More grandmother than mother today
This mother’s attitude may be surprising, even though the verdict is not yet in. In similar cases, many parents remain on the child’s side, at all costs. And Nadine Jubillar could have simply remained silent. “Maternal love has nothing to compare. A strength, apart. It cannot be negotiated, cannot be calculated in terms of the weight of suffering. It is capable of everything, it can absorb everything or almost everything…. Even the unimaginable”, reacted a psychologist in the previous case of a mother present for her child guilty of a crime.
Nadine chose to seek the truth.
“I’m here for Louis and Elyah. I’m waiting for a truth, judicial or not. To always be able to be straight and stay straight in front of my grandchildren if they question me. I want to be able to tell them that I tried to know the truth.”
Guilt and love intertwined
Consulted on the subject, Johanna Rozenblum, clinical psychologist accustomed to news items, confirms this. What emerges from the testimony of Cédric Jubilar’s mother is an overwhelming posture.
“She is chilling, of course, because she finds herself in an impossible position: that of a mother, but also of a grandmother. She clearly claims this dual role. She even had the strength to say how much she admired and esteemed her daughter-in-law — and this, speaking in the present tense, as if this bond of esteem remained intact despite everything.” she emphasizes.
A posture at the crossroads of several incompatible struggles.
“We perceive in her a real desire for justice and truth, not for herself, but above all to protect her grandchildren. She tries, to the extent of what remains possible, to repair, to give meaning. Implicitly, we also feel a form of guilt, a deep bitterness at not having been able to protect more — neither her daughter-in-law, nor her grandchildren — while being aware, no doubt, of the fragilities and areas shadow of his own son” she continues. An attitude which here reflects an immense emotional complexity: between maternal loyalty, moral pain and the quest for truth.
As a reminder, against the backdrop of divorce, Delphine Jubillar disappeared on the night of December 15 to 16, 2020 without a trace. Several clues point to a domestic murder, but no body has ever been found.