Since his placement in police custody on August 19, he has not said much to investigators from the Nîmes Research Section (Gard). Preferring to remain silent, the man suspected of having murdered Sonia Bellina only admitted to having contacted the victim, for an escort-girl service.
Already well known to the justice services, this 32-year-old man was sentenced to prison in connection with a domestic violence case. He was also wearing an anti-reconciliation bracelet at the time of his meeting with the 29-year-old influencer. The lifeless body of the young woman was found naked and partially charred in the middle of the vineyards of Saint-Gilles, twenty kilometers from Nîmes. Here is what we know about the main suspect in this barbaric crime.
He was the last one to have had contact
The police worked hard to find him. Because the 32-year-old man indicted for murder was the last person to have had contact with Sonia Bellina. On August 10, this man living in the Nîmes region contacted the influencer. Very active on Snapchat and TikTok, the young woman presented herself as a beautician and regularly went to Paris.
Returning to Nîmes to see her family, she had been contacted by the main suspect “as part of a meeting as an escort girl by appointment”, said the public prosecutor of Nîmes Cécile Gensac. Before these exchanges, the two individuals obviously did not know each other. “Nothing established a relationship other than a price between them,” explains the magistrate.
He gave no explanation
While in police custody, the suspect declared “that he had a relationship the night of the incident and the day before with the victim. » He will say no more, preferring to remain silent. He was indicted and placed in pre-trial detention. At this time, the causes of death are still unknown. “It seems, however, that death may have occurred before the body was set on fire,” according to investigators.
He has already been convicted of violence
The man suspected of this assassination is not unknown to the justice system. According to the public prosecutor, he even has “a heavy legal past since 2010”. Cécile Gensac evokes “violent behavior” and accusations of drug trafficking.
Convicted of trafficking, he acted as a repeat offender. In December 2023, he was convicted by the court of Lille (North) for domestic violence. Since this date, he has worn an anti-reconciliation bracelet in order to protect his ex-partner. A bracelet that he wore when he met Sonia Bellina.
He worked and was followed by justice
Sentenced to a mixed prison sentence, he was first incarcerated, before being released and placed under judicial supervision. After his conviction for domestic violence, the main suspect moved to Gard, where he had been living since the end of December 2024. According to the prosecutor, the man was working. He remained under the supervision of the Gard prison integration and probation service since his arrival in the department. Presented to an investigating judge then to a sentence enforcement judge, he was placed in pre-trial detention.
