Frédérique Porterie, public prosecutor of Bordeaux, took stock of the feminicide case in Mérignac on Thursday. – E.Provenzano / 20 Minutes
- The prosecutor of the Republic of Bordeaux took stock of the case of the feminicide perpetrated Tuesday near Bordeaux.
- The respondent, arrested just after the facts, explains that he did not want to kill her but to punish her for an alleged infidelity.
- An inspection mission was requested by the government to verify the conditions for monitoring the probationary stay to which the respondent was subject.
- The author was wanted by the police since the complaint filed by the victim on March 15, 2021, after an assault.
The death of a 31-year-old woman, burned alive in Mérignac near Bordeaux by her ex-companion, Mounir B., convicted of domestic violence and against whom she had filed a complaint in March 2021, triggered a wave of indignation among associations and elected officials. While an inspection mission was announced by the Ministries of Justice and the Interior, to study the conditions of release and the follow-up of this 44-year-old man who was serving a suspended prison sentence, Frédérique Porterie, public prosecutor of Bordeaux, took stock of the case on Thursday.
What do we know about the facts?
Tuesday, at 6:10 p.m., several detonations were heard on avenue Carnot in Mérignac. Two witnesses living in the street saw the victim fall to the ground, hit in the thighs by gunfire. Another neighbor, who lives opposite the scene of the crime, tried to intervene but Mounir B. set fire to the victim he had just sprayed with gasoline, before pointing him with a pistol. The threatened resident says that the author calmly reloaded his rifle before leaving to flee through the back of the garden of the victim’s home. He set fire to the garage and the first floor before leaving. Mounir B. was arrested at 6:45 p.m. by the BAC, in possession of a 12-gauge rifle, a gas pistol and a cartridge belt. He tested negative for alcohol and drugs.
Where is the investigation?
The first results of the autopsy of the victim show that she died “following acute respiratory distress secondary to vital combustion,” reports the prosecutor. We can assume that he shot the victim and that she was alive when he sacrificed him. »Toxicological and anatomopathological analyzes are in progress.
The eldest son of the victim, aged 13 (and from another union) was awakened by the respondent who ordered him to leave the house, after having set his mother immolated a few hundred meters away. The young boy fled, trying to call his mother on the way, and ran into a friend of her who greeted him at her home. “He would not have seen or heard anything else,” said the prosecutor.
What does the respondent say?
Before retreating into silence, Mounir B. explained that he was convinced that his wife had a lover and that she was manipulating him. He would have decided to punish her “for the suffering endured”, without wanting to kill her. He explained to investigators that he wanted to “burn his wife a little to leave marks on her”. He had parked his van early in the morning and watched its comings and goings. “Around 6 pm, she would go out again and walk up the avenue in his direction. As she got to his level, he got out of the car with a gun and fired two bullets in the victim’s thighs, to prevent any escape. He would have bought the weapons from “illegal crusaders in town”. He was referred this Thursday for an opening of judicial information of the counts of voluntary homicide by spouse, voluntary destruction by fire, violence without ITT with weapons in legal recidivism.
What’s his record?
Seven convictions appear on Mounir B.’s record, in particular for drunk driving and violence. On June 25, 2020, he was sentenced for spousal violence in the presence of a minor to eighteen months in prison, including nine months with probationary suspension for two years, with a warrant of committal issued at the hearing. This probationary stay included an obligation to exercise a professional activity, an obligation of care, a ban on appearing at the victim’s home and coming into contact with her and the ban on frequenting drinking establishments.
“As of October 5, 2020, he obtained a specific external placement measure for perpetrators of domestic violence, a device that we have in partnership with SOS Solidarity. His nut was lifted on December 9, 2020, ”explains the prosecutor. He responded to the convocations of the penitentiary service of integration and probation, by providing the justifications of work and care requested. Mounir B. however admitted to having come into contact on several occasions with the victim and, this in total contradiction with the demands of his stay.
Where was the last complaint filed by the victim?
On March 15, 2021, the victim had filed a complaint at the Mérignac police station against her ex-spouse for an assault committed in the morning. “A flagrant investigation had been opened and despite the police searches, it remained untraceable. The investigation was still ongoing at the time of the tragedy, ”comments the prosecutor.
The inspection mission will focus on monitoring the probationary suspension of which the author was subject and the follow-up given to this complaint, which dates back only three weeks before the tragedy.