Double murder at the Saint-Antoine farmhouse in Saint-Gilles: a heavy sentence required against the accused at the Gard Assize Court

Verdict attendu en fin de journée à la cour d’assises du Gard. MIDI LIBRE – François Barrère

Farid Khial, a 56-year-old nurse, is on trial before the Gard Assize Court for the murder of Chantal Christophe and for the assassination of Jean-Paul Emmanuel at the Mas Saint-Antoine de Saint-Gilles, on 17 ;nbsp;May 2021, occurring in a context of family and neighborhood conflict on this agricultural property. The verdict is expected at the end of the day.

The general advocate Adeline Galtier requested this Friday a heavy sentence against Farid Khial, this 56-year-old nurse who is accused of a double family homicide, committed on an agricultural property in Saint -Gilles, mas Saint-Antoine, May 17, 2021.

That day, the accused successively beat to death Chantal Christophe, 66 years old, and her companion Jean-Paul Emmanuel, 73 years old, with whom he was in acute neighborly conflict, having turned to hatred, on this area where several members of the same family lived together, in a climate that had become deleterious for several months.

An explosion of uncontrolled violence ?

Since the start of the trial, the accused has denied having had the intention of voluntarily killing the two victims, affirming that the crimes were committed after successive altercations between them. ;opposed the two victims, then falling into an explosion of uncontrolled violence.

"We do not agree on one point, this intention to kill"recalled the magistrate in her indictment, her first in the Assize Court. "The intention to cause death results from several elements. The length of the violent scene, the duration of the scene, the final gesture. Without this gesture, she could have survived."

A reclassification of the facts requested 

"There were obviously tensions in this farmhouse, and a deleterious context. But it is established that there was a history of violence. The first to file a complaint was Ms. Christophe. Farid Khial's role was to accentuate tensionsinsists the magistrate, who requests that the acts classified as murder and assassination be reclassified as murder followed by another crime, which incurs life imprisonment for the accused.

"If they were so tired of going through this torture, there were other ways. It was easier for him to kill than to move, or to alert the authorities."

"For three days we searched for those responsible. But there is only one culprit here, and that is Farid Khial."

An impulsiveness that raises questions

"I'm worried because when we commit two murders and we give the explanations we have today, that shows impulsivity. He had intellectual limitations, but that did not prevent him from committing two crimes. This raises questions about his reintegration into society."

"The penalty provided for is life imprisonment, but it’s for an act that reached the height of barbarism. We must have a gradation in the atrocities. Taking into account the circumstances of this case and the personality of the accused, it appears that the sentence could not be less than 30 years of criminal imprisonment , plus a two-thirds security sentence, without sentence adjustment, so that society can be sure that he remains behind bars for twenty years."

"This is an act that has destroyed several lives, it’s irreparable. There must be no weakness on your part, because that would make our justice irrelevant, to punish this abominable behavior, and give voice to the victims."

The hearing will resume with the pleadings of the defense lawyers, Me Hélène Mordacq and Me Martine Van Praet.

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