A 55-year-old woman died on Saturday evening in Saint-Joseph, in the south of Reunion Island.
She received several stab wounds that were allegedly assassinated by her ex-partner.
The facts took place at the victim's home.
The alleged perpetrator attempted to end his life.
He was "evacuated to a hospital to undergo surgery, his prognosis being engaged," prosecutor Caroline Calbo said on Sunday.
An investigation was opened for "acts of murder on a spouse", specifies the prosecution.
According to relatives of the victim, the fifty-something, mother of three, felt threatened since the couple's recent separation.
She would have also deposited handrails with the gendarmerie, indicate the same sources.
The Réunion 1ere channel specifies that the victim of this feminicide was called Lise May.
She lived 35 years with the one who allegedly committed her murder.
After having recently moved in with relatives, s she has finally returned home.
She had taken care to change the locks.
The third most violent department for women
The first elements of the investigation suggest that the murderer forced the entrance to the kitchen to enter the house. Two of the children, called by their mother at the same time as she alerted the gendarmerie, allegedly witnessed the scene without being able to do anything. Cyrille Melchior, president of the departmental council, “once again deplores this feminicide. "He adds that his administration" is resolutely and more than ever in the fight against this scourge ".
In March, an 85-year-old man stabbed his 78-year-old wife and their home help, a 57-year-old woman, to death in Reunion Island.
According to figures from the judicial authorities, Reunion is the third most violent department in France against women.
In 2020, seven complaints were filed daily for domestic violence.
In 14 years, 51 women have been victims of femicide on the island.
38% of them had reported their attacker to the courts.
