at the Nice attack trial, Audrey describes the loss of her twin

« It was my mirror », « it was half of my life » … Before the special assize court in Paris, Audrey Borla paid tribute on Tuesday to her twin sister, Laura, killed at 13 in a the Nice attack, July 14, 2016. The young woman also confided her « anger » and her difficulty in « moving forward » since this very special link was cut by Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel’s ram truck. This 31-year-old Tunisian man had charged into the crowd gathered on the Promenade des Anglais, killing 86 and injuring more than 450.

Audrey and her parents had managed to jump onto the beach below, but had not heard from Laura for three days before learning of her death. His parents as well as his older brother and sister, who were absent on the evening of the attack, were heard at the trial. “My parents lost a daughter. Me and my brother, a sister. Audrey, her twin sister. We lost a person, but it was not to the same degree, so no one understood each other” after the attack, underlined his sister Lucie, 25 years old. “Our family is torn apart. It was difficult to communicate, ”confirmed their mother, Marie-Claude, 50 years old.

So the young Niçoise wanted to testify alone. In white underpants and a houndstooth sweater, Audrey stresses that she had all the more need to “detach” herself from her family as her resemblance to Laura rekindled the pain of her parents. « Look, it’s my daughter, she’s here! » It’s Laura! “, had thus exclaimed his mother (injured in the back), when Audrey had entered his hospital room, when he had just been informed of the death of Laura. “We are sentenced to life. (…) Because every day, we live with her, with the second “, had also awkwardly declared during his testimony his father Jacques, 61 years old.

« We had a resemblance like two drops of water », recognizes the young blond woman, with a round face. She exhales deeply to calm her sobs, but holds her testimony, a photo of her sister placed next to her text. On the screen, other shots scroll: the two sisters entwined, laughing little girls, then sulky teenagers, with eyes underlined in black or bathed in sunlight. She tells of her sister, “extroverted”, passionate about dancing… On July 14, after the fireworks, “the last image I have of my sister is to see her arm in arm with my mother. , (hearing her) tell him how much she loved him, and that she was sorry for having argued”.

A moment later, “I hear these cries, it still resonates in my head”. “I see this truck coming in the distance, all lights off. He was really zigzagging on us.” The chaos over, her parents go back to the Promenade. “It was an open-air cemetery. I was shouting ‘Laura, Laura’. We checked the bodies on the ground,” said Marie-Claude. As Audrey returns home, a sharp « pain » pierces her. “I felt like I felt his last breath. She was my twin sister, I felt everything she had: her sadness, her anger… And there, I didn’t feel her anymore. It’s as if my heart was bleeding”.

Eating disorders and suicidal thoughts

It will take another three days before Laura is formally identified. “An eternity. » After carrying out a DNA test, Audrey, Lucie and their brother Nicolas are called to the House to receive the victims. A superintendent summons them to his office. « We were holding hands. » All three remember the announcement, worthy of a bad detective series: “I have good news and bad news. The good news is that your sister has been found, but the bad news is that she is dead”. « Lifeless… » repeats Laura.

She explains that she suffers from eating disorders (« I fill my sister’s void ») and having had suicidal desires (« Why am I continuing to live when we were supposed to live together? ») but wants to « move on », for her sister. After a complicated schooling (« I was ‘the twin who lost her sister' »), she obtained her professional baccalaureate and now works as a cosmetics saleswoman: her « way of paying homage » to Laura, who wanted to « make of aesthetics”. “I am 20 years old, I am a victim of terrorism, and I have lost the love of my life,” she concludes.