towards an indictment of the parents for “acts of torture and barbarism”

The Orleans Court of Appeal on Thursday requested the “supplementary” indictment of the parents of Inass Touloub, found dead on the A10 motorway in 1987, for “acts of torture and barbarism”, learned Friday April 14 franceinfo from concordant sources. In November 2022, the investigating judge of Blois (Loir-et-Cher) in charge of the case had decided to refer the mother, Halima El Bakhti, to the Assize Court for “willful violence resulting in death without intention to give it” and the father, Ahmed Touloub, for “complicity”. The prosecutor of Blois had appealed, considering that it was a murder.

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In their decision, the magistrates of the investigating chamber of the Orléans Court of Appeal ordered additional information: they asked the investigating judge to indict Inass’s parents for “acts of torture and barbarism” and to question them on certain points of the file which, in their opinion, deserve to be clarified.

“Certain acts amount to torture”, according to a lawyer at franceinfo

The judge has until May 26 to carry out these acts. The Court of Appeal will then decide on the legal consequences, and any grounds for referral to the Assize Court. Experts had concluded that the 4-year-old girl had died of the consequences of abuse involving bites, fractures, burns, bruises, wounds.

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During his interrogation in November 2018, the father, Ahmed Touloub, said that one day when Inass was crying, he saw a burn on his daughter’s body and called a doctor. He had also indicated that these injuries were due to his wife whom he considered very hard and very severe. Ahmed Touloub had also reported seeing his wife hitting Inass all over the body, slapping and biting her, pulling her hair. She used, according to him, everything she had before as an object in front of her to hit her daughter.

“This decision corresponds to the reality of the case”reacts to franceinfo master Agathe Morel, lawyer for the Enfance et Partage association. “Certain acts are acts of torture and barbarism“, assures the lawyer who is nevertheless worried about the additional delays that this will cause, and the consequences on the date of the trial, given the age of the parents who are 71 and 68 years old.