At the end of the day on Friday, a man with a 10-month-old baby in his arms went to the Ales police station to accuse himself of the double murder of his wife and his sister-in-law. The security forces immediately moved to the scene and discovered the lifeless bodies of the two women, both killed with knives. The double homicide occurred in Salles-du-Gardon, in the agglomeration of the Gard sub-prefecture. A town of 2,600 inhabitants sadly famous this year. If there is no connection between the two dramas, it is already here that the young Sihem, 18, was murdered at the end of January.
What happened Friday near Alès?
According to his statements, the main suspect would have gone to the home of his 26-year-old wife, with whom he was in the process of separation. She had left their home in Cavaillon, in the Vaucluse, a few months ago to come and live in Salles-du-Gardon, in the Gard, with their 10-month-old child. But it would seem that they continued to see each other on the weekends.
When she arrived at the young woman’s home, there were also the victim’s sister, aged 39, and a beautician at home, who had come to provide care. In the kitchen, a violent argument then broke out between the suspect and his sister-in-law, after which he grabbed a knife and struck the victim several times. Alerted by the noises, his wife would have rushed into the kitchen. She too was reportedly fatally stabbed in the throat. “The autopsies confirmed that the stabbings were the cause of the deaths,” said the public prosecutor of Nîmes, Cécile Gensac.
The man suspected of being behind the beatings would then have taken his 10-month-old child with him and forced the witness to this double homicide to take him to the police station.
What was the origin of the tensions in the couple?
Strong tensions existed in the couple, married since December 2020. “A major dispute in the couple and with the family of Madame, seemed to be at the origin of the strong tensions which presided over the facts, said the prosecutor. The person in custody spoke of the difficulties linked to the presence in particular of their granddaughter and to the fact that he was in an irregular situation in France, which his in-laws regularly sent back to him in this context of separation. He harbored strong resentments against his sister-in-law, whom his wife had recently moved closer to geographically. »
On the way to the police station, he explained to the beautician that his wife’s family was asking him for money to see his daughter.
What do we know about the main suspect?
Mohamed O., 39 years old and of Moroccan nationality, is in an irregular situation in France. He was administratively subject to an obligation to leave the national territory by the prefectures of Drôme in 2019 and Vaucluse in May 2022. “These decisions are not related to the previous commission of acts of a criminal nature” , specifies Cécile Gensac. The prosecutor also specifies that he “is only known to justice for a conviction by criminal order for lack of a driving license dated October 12, 2022 by the Avignon judicial court”.
On Sunday, he was the subject of a presentation to the investigating magistrate who indicted him on the count of “spouse murder” and “murder” for the acts committed on his sister-in-law, as well as on the count of ” aggravated intentional violence” to the detriment of the third person present, who was particularly shocked. He was then remanded in custody by the liberty and detention judge. The couple’s child is the subject of a judicial placement at the University Hospital of Nîmes as part of the departmental protocol for the care of minors who are victims of domestic violence and murder. It will be taken into account by the departmental child welfare services.