The victim was stabbed 16 times outside her home. A 54-year-old man was sentenced on Friday by the Seine-Saint-Denis Assize Court to 28 years of criminal imprisonment for having killed his wife, under the protection of the courts, in 2021, in Epinay-sur-Seine.
After more than four hours of deliberation, the court found Khalid Fahem guilty of the murder of Bouchra Bouali, on November 26, 2021, nine days after his release from prison where he was serving a sentence for domestic violence. This announced feminicide had “upset” the justice system which had failed to prevent it, leading to the adoption of new protocols.
“I didn’t do it on purpose, the shots went off like that”
At the hearing, Khalid Fahem was unable to explain his actions but swore that he did not intend to kill his ex-wife. The 54-year-old accused, who faces life imprisonment, began his three-hour interrogation with an apology to his daughters and the victim’s family. “I don’t know what came over me and I really regret it. I ask for forgiveness again. I’m ashamed, I have no words… I’m a criminal,” said this former nightclub bouncer.
However, on the day of the events this man, convicted of domestic violence, bought a knife with a 20 cm blade, sharpened it and approached his former home in Epinay-sur-Seine. He waits for two hours for his ex-wife to return. When she arrives at the foot of the tower, he gets out of the car, approaches her and grabs her arm to “talk”. Headphones in his ears, in a state of shock, Bouchra Bouali looks for his taser to defend himself. The stab wounds fly, most of them in the back.
“Why are you giving these blows? », questioned Mahrez Abassi, the president of the court. “I don’t know, I didn’t do it on purpose. […] I don’t even know what’s going on […] the shots went off like that,” the accused stammered with large gestures.
Early release
Holder of a “serious danger telephone”, which allows rapid intervention by the police, Bouchra Bouali lived in fear. On November 26, she was unaware that he had benefited from early release.
His murder led the Ministry of Justice to issue a decree a month later ordering the authorities to systematically inform victims of domestic violence of the release from detention of a violent spouse and to consider the protection measures to be taken. take.