He had been in police custody with his ex-girlfriend, a cousin of Sihem, since Tuesday January 31, 2023. Mafhoud H., 39, finally admitted on Wednesday evening that he had killed the 18-year-old girl. . Before leading the investigators to his body, in a forest in the town of Salles-du-Gardon, he revealed what was the nature of his relationship with the victim…
“Dispute related to their romantic relationship”
This is how this Thursday, February 2, the public prosecutor of Nîmes Cécile Gensac reported at a press conference: “The detainee, who has a distant family connection with the victim, confessed“. And to add that the number one suspect spoke of a “dispute related to their romantic relationship“.
According to our colleagues from Parisian, Mafhoud H. would have choked Sihem, by putting his hand on her mouth, to silence her. The public prosecutor adds that “the body of young Sihem was found that night around 1am, in an isolated country lane“.
At the time of his disappearance, the investigators quickly turned to Mafhoud H. with whom Sihem had a “ambiguous friendship“, explains the Parisian. And to add:the teenager would have fallen in love with this boy aged twenty years older than her to the point of going out in the evening regularly with him”.
This is the reason why a search was carried out at his home before Mafhoud H. was placed in prolonged custody. On January 25, Sihem went to visit her grandmother. She left her house at 11:10 p.m., and never answered phone calls again. Around midnight, when the grandmother discovered that her granddaughter was no longer there, she reports that her front door was ajar and that Sihem’s belongings were still in her room…
“We will get as close as possible to the truth”
Faced with these obscure details, the testimony of Mafhoud H. is crucial. And the public prosecutor guarantees to those close to Sihem “that we will come as close as possible to the truth“.
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