Frenchman goes on trial for murdering ex-partner after years of abuse

by Marisol RIFAI

A Frenchman is set to stand trial on Wednesday accused of fatally stabbing his former partner, who had complained of enduring years of abuse and repeatedly reported him to the authorities over his harassment.

On July 2, 2021, the body of 31-year-old Sandra Pla was found in a pool of blood at her home in the southwestern French city of Bordeaux, where she lived with their four-year-old daughter.

A neighbor had heard a woman screaming and alerted police. An autopsy revealed around fifty knife wounds, particularly to Pla's neck and face.

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Her former partner, Mickael Falou -- who she had left a few months earlier after a 10-year relationship -- was later arrested at his home in the Bordeaux suburb of Merignac. He was severely intoxicated.

She had repeatedly complained to the authorities about the violence and harassment she had endured for years.

Pla even petitioned French President Emmanuel Macron and other top officials, warning she was going to end up "like those women who are killed by their husbands", according to lawyer Elsa Crozatier.

Crozatier, a lawyer representing Pla's mother and stepfather, said the woman's murder was a clear-cut case of "femicide".

"This is a concrete and very explicit case," she said.

- Physical and psychological violence -

In police custody, the man, who was 36 at the time, admitted killing his daughter's mother but said he could not remember when he stabbed her.

He said he had broken into Pla's house at around 4.30 am by climbing over the gate and hiding in the shed until she returned after taking their daughter to school.

He told investigators that he had never planned to kill her and insisted he had never abused her before.

According to Falou, he broke into her home to accuse her of lying to the police, in order to have him stripped of custody of their daughter, about the physical and psychological violence she had reported.

"He denies and has always denied premeditation," one of his lawyers, Elena Badescu, told AFP.

Pla and Falou met in the Paris suburb of Courbevoie in 2010 and entered into a civil partnership three years later.

In 2018, a year after the birth of their daughter, the young woman began to confide in those close to her about the violence she had suffered.

"For years she had lived under a kind of hold from her partner. She didn't see it in the beginning," said Crozatier.

A few months before her death, "she had begun to realise, little by little, what she had been through and she was freeing herself from it all. Hence the break-up and separation", said the lawyer.

The victim knew she was in danger and "did everything" she could to alert the authorities, added Crozatier.

- 'Sad litany' -

Crozatier said the woman had lodged several complaints.

"She took her case to the family court," she said.

"She even wrote to the president and the public prosecutor directly, urging them to do something, saying that she was going to end up 'like those women who are killed by their husbands'", said Crozatier.

The lawyer has also initiated liability proceedings against the state on behalf of the family.

"That doesn't mean that the state is responsible for everything. It just means that there are things that should have been done that were not done", she added.

The Planning familial de la Gironde, the local branch of French women's rights association Planning familial (Family Planning), has deplored a "sad litany of women who are victims of violence", saying many find the courage to lodge a complaint but are not protected.

Police officers who take complaints of sexual or domestic violence "receive little or no training", said Nicole Blet, an activist and former president of the association, while acknowledging there have been some "improvements" in recent years.

On average, a woman is killed every three days in France.

In 2023, 96 women were killed by their partner or ex-partner in France, a drop of 19 percent from 2022, according to the latest figures from the interior ministry.

The trial is to last until Friday.

On Wednesday, several feminist groups plan to stage a protest before the beginning of the trial.