At the assize court of the Rhône
In the box of the accused, she seems absent. As a stranger to what is happening. No gesture betrays his mood. Jamila El Rhoufi has been on trial since Tuesday before the Assizes du Rhône for killing her two little daughters, then aged 3 and 5. The drama began on June 10, 2018 in the Limonest gendarmerie barracks, where she resided with her husband and children. He had left for a weekend for a sporting event. For three years, the frail mother has categorically denied, claiming her innocence.
Lyna and Alya, however, “did not die of natural causes”. Tiphaine Guinet and Anne-Sophie Advenier, who autopsied the two victims, are categorical. Neither did the girls die from “food poisoning” or “poisoning”. Not even a gastroenteritis or an epileptic seizure. Initially, forensic pathologists were not able to determine with certainty the causes of death. So, they multiplied the additional analyzes “not to rule out any hypothesis”. To make sure they weren’t missing any clues. To “search for anything” that they “could seek”.
Smothered with a pillow?
The “most probable hypothesis”, they forcefully assert: “death by asphyxiation” after “orofacial suffocation”. “This means that we prevented the air from entering through the nose and the mouth,” says Dr. Advenier. There was an obstruction in the face, either from the hands or from an object such as a pillow or sheet. “In this case, probably a pillow, adds the doctor, for whom” the intervention of a third person “is not in doubt.
“At this age, children don’t suffocate in their sleep,” she argues. The “traumatic lesions” (bruises) noted in the mouth and nose on each of the little girls leave no room for doubt. “They cannot have been caused by the resuscitators of the Samu, supports Dr. Guinet. There is no such thing as post-mortem echymosis. In agony, yes, but not when death has already occurred. “
The children had “probably little reaction”
Black hair pulled back in a bun, gaze fixed in space, Jamila El Rhoufi is impassive in the face of revelations from forensic pathologists. The court wonders. Could the girls have been killed while they were sleeping soundly without even struggling? “There was probably little reaction. They were in their bed at the time, ”says Anne-Sophie Advenier. “When the brain is deprived of oxygen, consciousness disturbances will occur which will lead to cardiopulmonary arrest,” concludes her colleague. In children, it can be quite quick. About two or three minutes. “
The verdict is expected Friday.