A repeat domestic violence offender in France was released from prison after nine months of repeated harassment and stalking of his wife, and yesterday shot her in broad daylight, then threw flammable liquid on her and burned her alive. Civil society groups have condemned the government’s inaction as an accomplice to female homicide.
A repeat domestic violence offender in France was released from prison for nine months after repeatedly harassing and stalking his wife, and shot her in broad daylight on the 4th, then threw flammable liquid on the victim and burned her alive. The picture shows people laying flowers outside the victim’s burned home to mourn. (AFP)
Another case of female homicide in France, with unprecedented brutality, has caused national horror and outrage. A 31-year-old woman with three children was killed yesterday in Mérignac, a town near Bordeaux in the south.
According to local police, at about 6:10 p.m., a husband, who had been jailed for domestic violence in 2020, followed his estranged wife down a quiet suburban lane. He first shot the victim several times in the leg, causing her to fall, then poured flammable liquid on her and set her on fire to burn her alive. The victim’s residence was later found partially burned down as well.
The 44-year-old suspect was arrested half an hour later by the anti-crime unit, armed with a handgun, gas gun and a full volley of bullets. The case is now being investigated for “spousal intentional homicide” and “burning and destruction”.
The man was sentenced by the Bordeaux Correctional Court on June 25, 2020, to 18 months in prison for domestic violence against the same victim, with nine months suspended for two years.
A local counseling team has been set up to assist all witnesses who were frightened by the violence. Although the victim’s three young children were not present at the scene of the crime, the hospital has been assigned to assist with psychological counseling.
The victim’s neighbors told the French media today in anger that “she had the courage to separate last spring, when her husband was in jail for domestic violence. Two months later, he beat her in front of a supermarket and took her to a van in an attempt to strangle her, but she escaped and the police were called.
The Minister of Gender Equality and Citizenship, Marlène Schiappa, tweeted today that she was “shocked by this shameful crime” and stressed that “the fight against spousal violence and femicide will continue”.
The government’s inaction has also drawn the ire of civil society. Anne-Cécile Mailfert, president of the Fondation des femmes, tweeted, “Not only is he a repeat offender, he’s a gun owner! Once again! What the hell is Gerald Darmanin (Minister of the Interior) doing?” Melfi demanded that any domestic violence offender who is notified of having a gun should have it confiscated immediately.
The “Osez le féminisme!” Twitter account, which has nearly 60,000 followers, also stressed today that the man is known to be a repeat gun owner and a dangerous domestic violence offender, and denounced “inaction as accomplice”.
The Minister of the Interior announced in February that he had asked police stations to “systematically confiscate weapons in cases of domestic violence,” but civil society groups say few police departments actually implement them.
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