Divorced Briton admits killing his kids in France
Source: AFP |
May 21, 2013, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
FRENCH prosecutors said yesterday they were currently not charging a 48-year-old divorced Briton with premeditated murder after he admitted slitting the throats of his two young children.
"We are presently holding back from the charge of premeditated murder but this could always change in the light of (more) testimony," a prosecutor said.
Prosecutors said the man, who was locked in a bitter custody battle, admitted on Sunday that he had killed his five-year-old girl and 10-year-old boy after taking them to his apartment in a suburb of the central French city of Lyon.
A judicial source said the man had visitation rights but only in the presence of another person and he had brought the children home for the first time without a third party being present.
He was arrested on Saturday after witnesses said his ex-wife raised the alarm after encountering him on the stairwell of the building with bloodstained clothes. He fled on roller skates. A knife which is thought to be the murder weapon has been found at the scene of the crime.
The bodies of a five-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy were discovered on Saturday afternoon in the man's apartment in Saint-Priest, a southeastern suburb of Lyon.
The unemployed father confessed to the gruesome crime "but did not go into details of the motive," prosecutors said.
The tragedy was "linked to a bitter separation" and "the state of his visitation rights which he considered insufficient," said a judicial official.
"In 2010, there was an incident of violence with his spouse which led to restrictions on his visitation rights," he said.
Police were also questioning his ex-wife, notably to learn more about the legal framework of the children's visits to their father.
Ahmed Benguedda, a neighbor, said the couple had divorced "two or three years ago" and that the man had drinking problems and was a wife beater.
After the divorce the wife, who worked as an assistant accountant, moved out of the apartment they had jointly bought and was living in the Isere region of eastern France.
But the children were "well-balanced," said Benguedda, whose seven-year-old daughter often played with them.
"All the people in this building are in a state of shock," Benguedda said.
"We are presently holding back from the charge of premeditated murder but this could always change in the light of (more) testimony," a prosecutor said.
Prosecutors said the man, who was locked in a bitter custody battle, admitted on Sunday that he had killed his five-year-old girl and 10-year-old boy after taking them to his apartment in a suburb of the central French city of Lyon.
A judicial source said the man had visitation rights but only in the presence of another person and he had brought the children home for the first time without a third party being present.
He was arrested on Saturday after witnesses said his ex-wife raised the alarm after encountering him on the stairwell of the building with bloodstained clothes. He fled on roller skates. A knife which is thought to be the murder weapon has been found at the scene of the crime.
The bodies of a five-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy were discovered on Saturday afternoon in the man's apartment in Saint-Priest, a southeastern suburb of Lyon.
The unemployed father confessed to the gruesome crime "but did not go into details of the motive," prosecutors said.
The tragedy was "linked to a bitter separation" and "the state of his visitation rights which he considered insufficient," said a judicial official.
"In 2010, there was an incident of violence with his spouse which led to restrictions on his visitation rights," he said.
Police were also questioning his ex-wife, notably to learn more about the legal framework of the children's visits to their father.
Ahmed Benguedda, a neighbor, said the couple had divorced "two or three years ago" and that the man had drinking problems and was a wife beater.
After the divorce the wife, who worked as an assistant accountant, moved out of the apartment they had jointly bought and was living in the Isere region of eastern France.
But the children were "well-balanced," said Benguedda, whose seven-year-old daughter often played with them.
"All the people in this building are in a state of shock," Benguedda said.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
