The circumstances surrounding Vanessa Lagesse?s death seem to be coming to life again with last week?s statements in court. These latest developments may have brought hope to the victim?s family that the mystery around their relative?s death will finally be solved. Key-witnesses came in the box to give some details about Vanessa Lagesse?s life and her timetable a few hours before she was killed in her bungalow in Grand-Bay on that Friday night, 9th of March 2001.

As for Vanessa?s sisters and cousin, there was no doubt that there was a ?very strong? relationship between the victim and the main suspect, Bernard Maigrot. ?My sister was deeply in love with Bernard Maigrot,? revealed Anne Rogers. Even though she ?did not agree with the relations between my sister and Bernard Maigrot?, she was present when she received his calls. ?By her behaviour, I could guess that the person who was talking to her was Bernard Maigrot. This kept on occurring until the last days of my sister?s life,? she commented in Court.

Sonia Doger de Spéville, Vanessa Lagesse?s other sister, confirmed the relation between her sister Vanessa and Bernard Maigrot. She also revealed that she had invited her sister to dinner on the Friday night. However, Vanessa Lagesse declined the invitation saying she was herself expecting a guest for dinner.

?A bit of a hurry?

This was confirmed by Carole Alexandre, owner of Sakura restaurant in Grand-Bay, who said Vanessa had been twice to the restaurant on the 9th of March, once to order dinner for two persons and later to pick up the order.

François Rousset who was questioned in court as well said that he saw Vanessa Lagesse around 8 pm at her home. He said he went there because he needed to talk to her but Vanessa came out of her house and started talking about a project concerning horses with him. ?Her phone rang while we were talking. She told me she could not talk to me anymore. I had already noticed that she had laid the table for two persons. She looked in a bit of a hurry. I could not see anyone inside or outside the bungalow,? he stated.

The chief police medical officer, Satish Boolell, was adamant in Court that Vanessa Lagesse must have died between midnight and one o?clock in the morning on Saturday, 10th of March. He made it clear that she had been violently attacked before she died and thinks there might have been more than one person in the bungalow on that evening?

The week has been rich in events but the mystery around the death of Vanessa Lagesse has still not been solved. The coming weeks should be decisive in throwing light on this violent death.