The National Union of Families of Femicides organized a symposium in the Senate this weekend. The UNFF demands in particular that the cleaning of the crime scene no longer be the responsibility of the families, as is still often the case. And that it is done by specialized companies.
In the spring of 2019, nearly four months after her mother was stabbed by her father, Fanny finally gets the keys to the family home. The seals were lifted, but nothing was cleaned. The student cannot afford to pay a company.
” My grandparents found someone in the village to clean up. They set a price, I think it was 80 euros. Fortunately, I have someone around me who felt capable of going into the house, to check that this gentleman was not stealing from us and that he had finally done his job well, that there would be nothing left in my room, says Fanny. I confronted this drama by saying to myself: “Andif I can’t afford it, I should clean up my mum’s blood”. And that, I had a hard time swallowing for a little while “.
Since last April, a decree allows the courts to order the cleaning of a crime scene at their expense, but this is not automatic. And in the event of suicide or natural death, it is up to the family to take care of it. Baptiste Girardet thus had to wash the apartment of his uncle, who died during the heat wave of 2003.
” Opposite there was a small supermarket. I went to get some items – sponges, scraper, detergents and sanitizer. I was able to basically clean up the traces left by my deceased uncle on his armchair. I couldn’t do better than that, he regrets. Neither session of shrink, nor other will be able to remove these very shocking images. This is called post-traumatic syndrome, these are images that come back to you for life “.
” It is necessary to intervene on each square centimeter »
To prevent other families from going through this, this former firefighter decides to take training in Canada and create his own business: “ This is the intervention truck “. It is in an all-white truck, for the sake of discretion, that Baptiste Girardet transports everything he needs. State-of-the-art equipment, especially to eliminate odors
” Smells of putrefaction interfere in everything that will be textile and porous and raw materials. If you have an unvarnished wooden table, the smell is going to be in the wood, says this former firefighter. It is necessary to intervene on each square centimeter of the volume of the room, it is thus very meticulous. And the second thing, very technical, is the scavenger insects that are there to feed on human fluids or body parts, adds Baptiste Girardet. Leaving a single fly or a crawling insect means finding hundreds of insects a few days after our intervention “.
Today, this profession is not regulated in France at all. Anyone can become a death scene cleaner. Alongside the National Union of Feminicide Families, Baptiste Girardet is campaigning for this to change. He is working on the creation of specifications with obligations concerning waste management, verification of criminal records and finally, guarantees so that no photo is found on social networks.