The town of Aghte on the French Mediterranean coast, and the neighboring tourist center of Cap d’Aghte, already have a dubious reputation. Cap d’Agde’s naturist district has 40,000 naturist tourists in high season, and nudity is mandatory here. The city is the scene of numerous swinger parties from all over Europe;
This time, Agde is distrustful for other reasons; Mayor Gilles d’Ettor, a former Gaullist member of the Republic, and Sofia Martinez, the city’s renowned clairvoyant and healer. Both are now in custody and investigation is going on. The Justice Department suspects that the mayor embezzled about 300,000 euros from the city treasury to pay Martinez and those around him. He has been accused of fraud and manipulation.
The voice changed
The clairvoyant says that he can contact the deceased and they will speak through her. About four years ago, Meyer met Sofia Martinez for the first time and asked her to make a connection with her father in the afterlife. The exercise was successful: suddenly there was a clear male voice – her father’s voice.
As the apparitions continued, D’Ettore received several calls from his father and other dead people. Most of the time, “voices” called on journalists to reward the mayor for his services. The city boss complied, financing vacations for Martinez and her large family, hiring her husband in the city administration, and renovating her home. Local companies associated with the mayor did the work for free, fearing they would lose future contracts with him.
The events spread across the city, and the police became suspicious and spent weeks tapping the phones of the protagonists, raiding their offices and finally arresting the two. During the trial, Meyer said he paid the owner with his own money, but admitted that the posthumous calls were thanks to his ventriloquist skills. In doing so, he dealt with the mayor sometimes in person, but preferably by phone.
“Mad Story”
The mayor’s lawyer, Jean-Marc Darrigate, told the BBC it was a “crazy story”. “It’s incredible, you have a man in politics, a mayor and former MP, who is so brilliant. You will find that a woman can handle such a man. (…) She found a weakness in him and used it to her advantage. It took him a long time to accept that he was framed,” the lawyer said.
“He has made a mockery of our city,” says Fabian Varezano, a local politician from the Rallye Nationale party, of which Marine Le Pen is also a member. He called on the mayor to resign. For now, however, D’Ettore and Martinez remain in custody to prevent possible influence on witnesses. Martinez was accused of witchcraft and placed in solitary confinement after being beaten by inmates in the women’s prison.
