The Bordeaux prosecutor's office confirmed on Wednesday that a 45-year-old man, Mounir B., was taken into police custody after the death of a woman on Tuesday, May 4 in Mérignac (Gironde).
The facts took place at 6:10 p.m. in the middle of the street.
Two witnesses saw a woman, pursued by a man, fall to the ground on the sidewalk.
The latter took a can from a van, sprayed the victim, before setting him on fire.
He then tried to escape on foot, before being arrested by the Bac men at 6:45 p.m., in the nearby town of Pessac.
Previously ‚he had set fire to the pavilion where his ex-partner lived, thus forcing her, according to some accounts, to leave her home.
The prosecution also confirmed that Mounir B. was carrying a 12-gauge rifle, a gas pistol and a cartridge belt during his arrest.
Residents in shock
“She collapsed on the sidewalk, injured her thigh and he sprayed her with gasoline, before burning her alive.
How can we do that to someone?
How? 'Or' What ?
Asks, her throat tight and her eyes red with tears, a friend of the victim pointing to the place where the tragedy took place.
Since Tuesday, the inhabitants of Avenue Carnot, yet usually so quiet with its pavilions and small gardens, are still in shock.
Philippe, a direct neighbor of the house where the victim lived with his three children, saw the scene again, his gaze seized with fear.
“First I heard a bang, then a strong smell of burnt plastic.
The smoke started to thicken and I walked out the doorstep.
There I saw this man with a gun in his hands come out of the fog.
There was real smoke everywhere, but I saw him leave in the street and I went back to take shelter.
It was there that I heard two more detonations.
"
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For several minutes, he does not know what is going on outside before again seeing the armed man who was trying to escape.
“From my window, I saw him running in the back of the garden and there were really a lot of police after him.
Afterwards, it was the police who informed us that he had been arrested.
Another witness spoke of the panic that followed and the street suddenly became deserted.
“There was a lot of smoke and we could see the fire trucks ready to intervene in the distance.
We were all so scared.
"
"A potential assassin"
This Wednesday morning, after a sleepless night for many of them, the residents were trying to understand how this tragedy could have happened and their testimonies are edifying: “We had been telling him to leave for several months because this man was violent, we knew it. , and she too, but she stayed. A neighbor says that, despite the ban which had been served on this man not to approach his partner, the families would have pressured for the couple to reform, which she did not want according to these testimonies.
Mounir B. would however have returned to see the children. “Looking back, one wonders what would have happened if the couple's three children had been at home. It's scary. "In the street, other residents testify:" Some time ago, he tried to strangle her in front of the mini-market at the end of the street. He was dangerous. A potential assassin. She closed the shutters so we couldn't hear him screaming at her, but we all knew what was going on. "
The Bordeaux prosecutor's office confirmed the worrying profile of the suspect, "unfavorably known" to the police. He was sentenced on June 25, 2020 by the Bordeaux Criminal Court as part of an immediate appearance for willful violence by spouse to 18 months in prison, including nine months accompanied by a probationary suspension for two years with a warrant of committal. the audience. "He served four months in prison but that did not prevent anything", testifies a friend of the victim.
In front of number 76, where the charred remains of the furniture of the pavilion totally destroyed by the fire are entangled, the victim's best friend cries out her revolt. “Chahinez knew what was going to happen to him. She had told us so, begging us to take care of her children when that day came. Why did no one do anything to stop this man from harming her and taking her life? We her friends feel totally helpless. We say to ourselves that maybe we could have saved her, put her out of reach of this violent individual. We feel lost and we think so hard about her. How do you explain to your children that their mother will never come back? "
