The man suspected of killing his wife and four children confessed and explained what pushed him to commit the act.
For three days, there has been astonishment and incomprehension in Meaux. A mother and her four children, aged 10, 7, 4 years and 9 months, were discovered dead on December 25 in their apartment in this town of Seine-et-Marne, east of Paris. Very quickly, suspicions were directed towards the spouse and father, quickly arrested immediately, 30km away, near Sevran (Seine-Saint-Denis).
A barbaric act
Hospitalized due to injuries but placed in police custody, the man was then presented to an investigating judge. Before the magistrate, the accused admitted the facts. And justified his action. He said he “heard voices” asking him to “do harm”, according to information sent to the press by the prosecution. However, he would not have been able to say what really pushed him to take action. A barbaric act since the thirty-year-old said he killed his wife and two daughters by stabbing them, “dozens” of each according to the report from the forensic institute. He then explained that he had drowned their two sons, which is confirmed by the same report.
The elements discovered by investigators on this 33-year-old suspect indicate depressive and psychotic disorders since 2017, for which he was taking treatment. Medicines that he did not take on December 24, according to him. The individual has already been interned in the past and is said to have attempted suicide that same year, 2017. Although his criminal record is clean, the individual also injured his wife with a knife in 2019, without her filing a complaint.
He faces life imprisonment
On the evening of the tragedy, the 35-year-old mother was expected at a friend’s neighbor’s house for a Christmas meal. She did not show up and did not respond when the host came to her home to inquire about the reasons for her absence. However, during the evening of December 24 to 25, other neighbors reported hearing screams in the night but were not concerned because, according to them, the mother had the habit of “yelling at her children “. A real drama was in fact taking place. It was only the next day, when the friend, who had not heard from her, returned home, that the police were called due to blood stains in the hallway.
A judicial investigation into the counts of intentional homicide by a spouse and intentional homicide of minors aged 15 was opened by the Meaux public prosecutor’s office. His placement in pre-trial detention was requested. If he is found criminally responsible, without abolition or alteration of discernment, the father risks life imprisonment.