Berthe P., 91, did not survive.
On June 10, early in the morning, one of the many people visiting her every day discovers her swollen body in the apartment where she lives, on the ground floor of a beige brick building a stone's throw from the Place d'Italie (Paris XIII).
She is still breathing.
The emergency services intervene.
She was placed on an artificial respirator and transported to La Pitié-Salpêtrière.
She succumbed to her injuries on June 11.
Berthe was beaten up.
Numerous bruises are found even on his face.
She suffered from a head trauma.
Several fractures are noted.
And Berthe was also raped.
She was walking with a walker
The police officers who proceed to the findings behind the gray front door of the accommodation note that the rapist had come to burglarize. The facts allegedly occurred between 4 and 7 a.m. And nobody heard anything, according to the neighborhood encountered on the spot. The 3rd judicial police district (DPJ) is seized of the investigation for rape resulting in death and burglary. The agents pick up the clues and set off in search of the perpetrator of this heinous crime.
“She was a little lady who only got around with her walker,” reports a resident.
In the evening, one of the people helping her took her out in a wheelchair.
Physically, it was not that.
But she had all her head.
From home help to the nurse, she received five visits a day.
These people found the keys to the apartment in a small code box hanging on the front door frame, above a "home sweet home" doormat on which appears the head of a French bulldog.
Berthe also had a small dog in the past.
From now on his activities were confined to reading and television.
"She had her heart on her hands"
A neighbor continues: “She had her heart on her hands, willingly gave a small room to people who needed it.
It's disgusting what happened to him.
Berthe had a daughter.
How did the man get into this building secured by a code in the middle of the night?
Nothing allows us to say so.
But it is not uncommon to see intrusions at this address.
“These are less serious facts,” another neighbor delivers, “but there are regular break-ins among tenants.
Maybe it was the same guy?
"
Paris XIII, this Tuesday, June 15.
To access Berthe's apartment, you had to cross this courtyard.
Did the perpetrator spot his victim?
LP / Nicolas Goinard
To enter Berthe's place, the burglar rapist had two options. Either force the window overlooking Passage Vallet. Either follow in the footsteps of a person entering the porch at 9, avenue Stephen Pichon, go out into the small courtyard, walk along the planters in which are planted herbs and sneak into building B where Berthe lived. Had he spotted his victim? It is to all these questions that the 3rd DPJ investigators will try to answer when they get their hands on the suspect.
