Overview
- Roland Woudstra was convicted on Tuesday and sentenced by the tribunal correctionnel de Digne to two years of imprisonment with continuation of detention for the May 15–16 attempted arson.
- Investigators say the attack used gasoline-soaked rags at the unoccupied secondary residence of Anne and Philippe Vedovini and that the suspect was linked by a Marseille-registered vehicle and the smell of petrol on his clothes.
- Local witnesses reported the man wore a surgical mask, used a false identity while posing as a Dutch journalist, and was arrested hours after the fires that caused only limited material damage.
- Woudstra told authorities he set the fire to 'restart' the probe into Émile’s disappearance and wrote of a desire to 'do justice myself,' while his lawyer argued diminished responsibility and psychiatric experts contradicted that claim.
- The sentence comes against the long-running backdrop of Émile’s disappearance on July 8, 2023 and the late-March 2024 discovery of his skull and teeth, with the criminal inquiry into his death still open and the family continuing to seek answers.