The 22-year-old soldier suspected of having killed his companion, also a soldier, near Saumur with a knife, was indicted and placed in pre-trial detention, the Angers prosecutor told France Televisions on Monday. The man “admitted the facts and was indicted for murder committed by a spouse as well as for violence against his brother and placed in pre-trial detention”, specified France Televisions the prosecutor of the Republic of Angers, Eric Bouillard.
The body of the 27-year-old victim was found early in the morning on Saturday in Bellevigne-les-Châteaux (Maine-et-Loire), near Saumur, on the landing of a small building.
Soldiers in the 2nd Fontevraud Dragoon Regiment, the young woman and her companion had been living with the latter’s brother for several days. During the night of December 31 to January 1, the suspect became aggressive and violent with his brother as well as with the victim. While his brother was leaving the house and warning the gendarmes, the suspect stabbed his partner several times on the landing of the apartment. He was arrested a few hundred meters from the crime scene.
Without a criminal record so far, the young man is subject to three separate legal proceedings for violence against his partner and against his brother, which took place during the year 2021. He must appear in correctional court in Lorient, Le Mans and in Saumur in January, March and June 2022 in connection with these cases.
This violence earned him a placement under judicial supervision prohibiting him from coming into contact with the victim, which was not respected. The victim would have informed the gendarmes as well as his relatives that she did not want this ban, and the interested parties had in fact resumed a married life, adds a judicial source to France Televisions.
According to a report from the Ministry of the Interior, 102 men killed their spouse or ex-spouse in 2020 in France. They were 146 in 2019. The feminist collective against gender-based and sexual violence #NousToutes counts 113 feminicides in 2021.