After three long weeks of hearings and more than ten hours of deliberation, the verdict has been handed down in the trial of Monique Olivier. The former wife of serial killer Michel Fourniret was sentenced on Tuesday 19 December by the Hauts-de-Seine Assize Court to life imprisonment with a 20-year probation period for her complicity in three kidnappings and murders committed by her ex-husband.

The role of the ex-wife of the "Ogre" has been acknowledged in the kidnapping, kidnapping and murder of Marie-Angèle Domèce and Joanna Parrish, aggravated by an attempted rape for the first victim and a rape for the second. She was also found guilty of complicity in the kidnapping, forcible confinement and murder of Estelle Mouzin.

"The court has been convinced of Monique Olivier's guilt," court president Didier Safar read out.

Marie-Angèle Domèce, 18 years old, Joanna Parrish, 20 years old, and finally Estelle Mouzin, 9 years old: the three victims of the serial killer were indeed kidnapped, sequestered, killed with the complicity of Monique Olivier, the court judged, which also acknowledged his complicity in the rape of Joanna Parrish and the attempted rape of Marie-Angèle Domèce.

With her head bowed and her eyes half-closed, the 75-year-old defendant listened to the verdict with an impassive expression. She had previously asked for "forgiveness" from the families of the victims and said she regretted "everything I have done".

The court answered in the affirmative to the fourteen questions put to it about the abductions, accompanied by rape or attempted rape, and murders of two young women: Marie-Angèle Domèce in 1988, and Joanna Parrish in 1990. Then there were six other questions about the kidnapping and kidnapping followed by the death of Estelle Mouzin, the youngest of Michel Fourniret's victims, who disappeared in January 2003.

On Monday, the Public Prosecutor's Office had requested life imprisonment against the accused, with a period of twenty-two years' imprisonment, "in view of the exceptional gravity of the acts committed, the necessary protection of society".

Enigmatic Personality

With a hesitant voice, Monique Olivier presented herself as the victim of her ex-husband, who died in custody in 2021, throughout her third trial before the assizes, which began on November 28.

On the side of the civil parties and the prosecution, the lawyers as well as the public prosecutor tried to uncover the enigmatic ex-wife of the killer, accused of not having "saved" the "little" Estelle while she participated in her confinement or of having remained immobile in the front of Michel Fourniret's vehicle while he raped and killed Joanna Parrish.

In 2008, the Ardennes Assize Court sentenced Monique Olivier to life imprisonment for complicity in four kidnappings and murders of her husband. Then she was sentenced to 20 years in prison, 10 years later in Versailles, again for complicity, this time in a heinous murder.

She had been sentenced to a total of 30 years in prison during these two previous convictions, and will therefore not be released until 2035.

Various experts, witnesses who met the couple - such as the Japanese piano teacher who refused to give lessons to the Fourniret couple's son - and Selim Olivier himself have taken the stand since November 28.

Sometimes manhandled by the president of the court, they answered the rolling fire of questions from the civil parties, represented by Didier Seban and Corinne Herrmann, and from the defense brought by Richard Delgenes.

'Dark side of the facts'

The hearing presented some surprises, such as when investigators from the Versailles judicial police who took the stand on December 8 expressed their skepticism about Michel Fourniret's involvement in the disappearance of Estelle Mouzin, more than 20 years after the fact.

There was also an unusual moment in the Assize Court, when Richard Delgenes took over on Thursday during the interrogation conducted by the President on the kidnapping of Estelle Mouzin. The latter bombarded his client with questions about her lies in front of the investigators.

"It was necessary to start from the truths" that Monique Olivier said about the facts "to go further" during the hearing, Delgenes told AFP.

It was not possible to go beyond the already known confessions and hesitant denials of Monique Olivier during this trial.

Monique Olivier has made "the choice to keep a dark side on the facts" and on "her full and complete responsibility" in the crimes, regretted one of the attorneys general, Hugues Julié.

Tirelessly repeating "I don't know" or "I don't remember" when questioned about the facts, Monique Olivier did not provide any new tangible evidence concerning the abuse inflicted on Estelle Mouzin or the location of the bodies of the little girl and Marie-Angèle Domèce, which were never found.

With AFP

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