Beauvais: a look back at the first day of the trial of Shaïna's alleged murderer, burned alive at 15

Guillaume Dominguez with AFP / Photo credit: FRANÇOIS NASCIMBENI / AFP 07:57, June 06, 2023

"Fourteen stab wounds! He pours a can of gasoline and sets it on fire! And this criminal keeps his head down! He can't even watch!" Shaïna's father, trembling with anger, said during a break in the hearing, after hearing medical examinations on the first day of the trial.

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"A total absence of emotion"

The tone rises between the two parties in the face of the lack of reaction of Shaïna's former boyfriend. A detachment of the main suspect characteristic of his personality, according to Me Negar Haeri, lawyer of Shaïna's family. "A state of neutrality and inexpressiveness that was visibly constant throughout the first months spent in the first juvenile prison. This is something that has always surprised prison staff, that is to say a total absence of emotion, "she says at the microphone of Europe 1.

The accused faces life imprisonment if the excuse of minority is waived

Thin, youthful face and hair tied in a bun, the accused faces life imprisonment if the excuse of minority is lifted. Aged 17 at the time, the young man, accused of luring Shaïna, probably pregnant with him, to a shed to kill her and then burn her body, is on trial until Friday. He spoke very little at the hearing. "Every time he's overwhelmed, he puts his head down. When he is given the floor, he says: 'It's not my opinion, it's not my opinion, it's not what I said'. But he does not give explanations," laments the lawyer of the civil parties, Me Negar Haeri.

"He claims his innocence but he is uncomfortable doing so, because he fully understands the suffering of these people," said his lawyer, Adel Fares.

Burns found on accused's legs after the fact

The court heard a friend to whom he allegedly confessed to the crime, "the main prosecution witness" according to Mr. Haeri. For Me Farès "his testimony does not hold, it is fluctuating. This raises questions about his true intentions."

The court also looked at the injuries found on the legs of the accused after the fact, eczema according to him, while for the forensic doctor, it is burns, reported the defense counsel and the civil parties.

Telephone elements incriminate the accused

On October 27, 2019, the body of the teenager is discovered almost completely charred by the police, guided by a rumor. The forensic expertise will reveal "multiple wounds" to the knife but also that she was still breathing at the beginning of the fire.

The day before, she had gone out after a family dinner. In her purse, her relatives found a positive pregnancy test. According to the investigation, the teenager was most likely starting a pregnancy, which she attributed to the accused, with whom she was having an affair. Two anonymous calls, followed by the testimony of the accused's friend, quickly steered the investigation. The young man says that the defendant confided to him on the night of the facts that he had given Shaïna an appointment to kill her. This witness provides details known only to investigators. Shaïna refused to have an abortion, he reveals. Telephone evidence also incriminates the accused, whose mobile phone, like Shaïna's, was located near the shed shortly before the events.

He said "prefer to take 30 years than to be the father of a bastard"

A fellow prisoner reportedly heard him "proudly say" that he had "killed his girlfriend, who was 'a whore', whom he had 'gotten pregnant'", wanting his family to avoid his family finding out. In prison, he said he "would rather take 30 years than be the father of a bastard," according to another inmate.

This term was repeated on the stand by the prosecution witness on Monday. "It was a hard moment for the civil parties, to hear that their daughter 'was just a whore' and that this is what motivated the crime. It's terrible," Haeri said. For Mr. Haeri, the death of Shaïna "is the culmination of a long ordeal", triggered by sexual assaults suffered two years earlier, and whose images had been broadcast on social networks. Four other young people from his city were sentenced Thursday on appeal for these facts, to sentences ranging from six months to two years in prison suspended.

Shaïna was treated "as a thing, with whom we sleep, but which we can suppress," laments the lawyer. The number of femicides increased by 20% in France in 2021 compared to the previous year, with 122 women killed by their spouse or ex-spouse, according to the Interior Ministry.