Frenchman on trial for allegedly killing ex-partner after years of abuse

By Staff Reporter
An autopsy revealed around fifty stab wounds, particularly to Pla’s neck and face
Pla had repeatedly complained to the authorities about the violence and harassment she had endured for years.Agency
BORDEAUX: A Frenchman went on trial Wednesday accused of stabbing to death his former partner, who had filed repeated complaints with authorities over years of abuse, and warned that she could end up being killed.
Around thirty people representing feminist groups staged a protest in front of the court in the southwestern city of Bordeaux to draw attention to the problem of domestic violence in the country.
A large black banner read “Not one more”.
On average, a woman is killed every three days in France.
“Why don’t we take action?” said Naima Charai, director of the National Women’s Solidarity Federation, a network of associations that runs shelters for victims of domestic violence.
“Why do we tolerate women being beaten, harassed and killed in their own homes, in France, in the 21st century?”
On July 2, 2021, the body of 31-year-old Sandra Pla was found in a pool of blood at her home in Bordeaux, where she lived with her four-year-old daughter.
A neighbour had heard a woman screaming and alerted police.
An autopsy revealed around fifty stab wounds, particularly to Pla’s neck and face. A kitchen knife covered in blood was found at the scene.
Her former partner and father of her daughter, Mickael Falou – whom 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.
Pla had repeatedly complained to the authorities about the violence and harassment she had endured for years.
Petitioned Macron
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.
In police custody, Falou, who was 36 at the time, admitted to killing his daughter’s mother but said he could not remember when he stabbed her.
He told investigators that he had not planned to kill her and insisted he has never abused her before.
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.
According to Falou, he broke into her home to accuse her of lying to the police about the physical and psychological violence she had reported, in order to have him stripped of custody of their daughter.
“He denies and has always denied premeditation,” one of his lawyers, Elena Badescu, told AFP ahead of the trial which is to last until Friday.
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 that he was being abusive.
“She took her case to the family court,” said Crozatier, who represents the victim’s family.
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.