He was acquitted by the courts in December 2023 for harassment against his ex-wife. A 73-year-old man shot his former partner with a gun on Wednesday before turning the weapon against himself, the Le Mans prosecutor’s office said on Thursday. He was to be retried on appeal after the summer.
The events took place in a street in the town of Saint-Jean-d’Assé, in Sarthe, near the home of the victim who was preparing to return home, specifies in a press release the public prosecutor of Mans, Delphine Dewailly. “Neighbors were present at this location during these shootings, and were able to describe what happened to the police, who immediately arrived on the scene,” she underlines.
Separated for two years
The couple had been separated for almost two years. During the summer of 2023, the man, aged 73, was placed in police custody, referred to the public prosecutor’s office and placed under judicial supervision until his judgment for acts of harassment towards his ex-partner, aged 67 years. In December 2023, the Le Mans criminal court acquitted the septuagenarian. The prosecutor appealed this decision and the case was to be examined by the court of appeal in September, the prosecution added in its press release.
The gendarmerie has opened an investigation into premeditated murder and is carrying out all investigations “to fully establish the circumstances” of these facts. According to official figures, 118 women were killed by a spouse or ex in 2022, and 122 in 2021.