The man suspected of having killed his eight-month-pregnant wife on Wednesday in Montargis (Loiret), as well as his second companion have both been indicted and imprisoned for murder and torture, the Orléans prosecutor's office announced on Tuesday. .
The victim's companion, aged 35 and of Senegalese nationality, was indicted for "murder preceded, accompanied or followed by another crime in this case, an act of torture and barbarism" and "habitual violence", a told AFP Christian Magret, deputy prosecutor of Orleans.
Present at the scene of the crime, the second companion of the alleged murderer, pregnant, was also indicted for murder and acts of torture and barbarism, as well as for "habitual violence", according to the same source.
Both suspects have been placed under criminal arrest warrant.
“Acts of torture and barbarism”
The victim, aged 31 and eight months pregnant, died on Wednesday August 3 at Montargis hospital, after being found unconscious at her home.
According to the Orleans prosecutor's office, citing the first elements of the autopsy on Friday, “the cause of his death was a serious head trauma (…) Some of the injuries found are similar to acts of torture and barbarism.
The numerous lesions are of different ages (…) and have been observed all over the body”.
The little girl carried by the victim was "almost full term" and "viable" and "her death seems linked to that of the mother", according to this same source.
The four children placed
During their intervention, the police had found that the apartment was “unsanitary”.
The couple's three children aged 2, 3 and 5, like that of the second companion, aged 3, had a "rickety appearance" and a "dirt state".
All four children were placed with child welfare.
During his hearings, the husband admitted to an argument with the victim, "but he denied any homicidal intention", according to the magistrate, specifying that no "warning sign of violence" had been "brought to the knowledge (…) of all the authorities who are in a position to report the situation”.
