Suspected of killing his wife with a stick in his Montauban garage, a 74-year-old pensioner was charged with domestic homicide and remanded in custody on Thursday, September 5, 2024. He faces life in prison.
The 74-year-old man suspected of killing his wife with a stick, On Tuesday morning, in the garage of their villa located on the rue du Ramierou in Montauban, he was charged with the murder of a husband on Thursday, September 5, at the judicial court.
Dressed in brown flip-flops, a polo shirt and beige canvas trousers, Mouloud El Anoui does not appear nervous or dejected as he awaits his appearance before the JLD.
Accompanied by his lawyer Charles de Luynes and an Arabic interpreter, the plump pensioner meets our gaze with vivacity. Following a closed-door debate in front of the JLD, the pensioner was placed in pre-trial detention at the Beausoleil detention center in Montauban.
The drama played out in ten minutes
A little earlier, the prosecutor of Montauban, Bruno Sauvage, held a press conference in his office to provide information about this criminal case.
In fact, like dispatch revealed it on the same day of the tragedy, B. Sauvage confirms the chronological sequence until the death of Itto Ler Casser, aged 70.
“At 10:17 a.m., the victim called her daughter to ask her to find a plane ticket for her to leave the marital home,” the prosecutor said. At the time, the septuagenarian did not mention acts of violence. The call was disturbing enough that the victim's daughter immediately called her brother, a neighbor of their parents, asking him to go there.
“She tells herself that something is wrong,” assures the prosecutor, reporting his testimony. In this period of barely 10 minutes, the drama played out. From 10:30 am, the son alerted the police to report his mother's death.
“I killed your mother”
“When the son spoke to his father on the phone, he said: I killed your mother.” Ten minutes later, it was 10:40 a.m., police discovered a woman's body in the garage, her head lying in a pool of blood with a head wound.
It appears that the husband in the living room had time to wash his hands and change, as no blood was found on him when the police arrived. “Analysis is being carried out on its effects,” informs the police director, Charles-Régis Allegri, who has mobilized sixteen policemen on the matter.
“He immediately admitted that he gave one or two blows with a stick about 50 cm long, covered with a large ball,” explains the prosecutor. An object of unknown use that was reportedly brought back from Morocco more than 20 years ago and remained stored in the couple's garage. Therefore, the crime would have taken place between 10:25 and 10:30.
Asked about the suspect's motivations for this criminal act, the pensioner stated that he had argued with his wife and that when she insulted him in the garage, he took the stick to kill him. “He said he didn't want to kill her, but to teach her a lesson and keep her quiet,” reveals B.Sauvage.
A coroner's assessment confirms the septuagenarian died from blows to the head from a stick, while multiple injuries to his arms show he tried to defend himself. “There are three fractures in the left arm,” states the prosecutor. This point tends to prove, contrary to the pensioner's statements, that he delivered numerous blows, including several fatal ones, to the skull.
That dispatch indicated yesterday the couple, married for 46 years, had been living under the same roof again since at least June, despite a court-ordered no-contact order that ended on August 26.
Tried during an immediate appearance in August 2022 for common violence, sexual assault and death threats against his wife, the pensioner was sentenced to 12 months in prison with probation.
“The victim, who in the meantime had benefited from a BAR (anti-reconciliation bracelet), had requested its withdrawal,” indicates the prosecutor. Electronic surveillance which was withdrawn in January 2024 while refusing to be fitted with a TGD (Gross Distress Telephone). “No one informed the courts about the resumption of cohabitation, the probation officer who met him in July said that the accused said he lived alone,” insists B.Sauvage.
Referred to the case, the investigating judge Marjorie Fantato should issue the commission rogatory for the continuation of the investigations. At this point, the first psychiatric expert who saw the suspect did not note an abolition of discernment, but an alteration of the pensioner due to paranoid delusion.
Contacted following his client's incarceration, Me Charles de Luynes did not want to comment on the merits of the case. “My client is very affected by the facts. He will make a statement later,” said the defense lawyer. The three brothers who have yet to plead are expected to file a civil suit against their father in the coming days…