Murder of 77-year-old woman in Maubeuge: sexagenarian put under investigation
A 68-year-old man, already convicted of murder in 2008, was put under investigation for the murder of a woman in her seventies in Maubeuge. Sexual assault is also suspected.
Maubeuge: 68-year-old man in custody following death of 77-year-old woman
A 68-year-old man was put under investigation on Thursday for the murder of a 77-year-old woman, found dead on Tuesday at her home in Maubeuge, in the Nord department, according to Google News FR — Crime (fr). The Valenciennes public prosecutor's office indicates that sexual assault is suspected in this case.
The man under investigation was remanded in custody following the opening of judicial proceedings for "murder preceded, accompanied or followed by another crime, with elements gathered during the inquiry suggesting an offence of a sexual nature".
It was the victim's son who alerted police to a "worrying disappearance". Police discovered the body of the woman in her seventies in the sixty-year-old man's apartment. The man, described as a "friendly acquaintance" of the victim, told investigators that he had strangled her.
He explained that he had "romantic feelings for the victim" and had been pushed back "by a blow with a bottle" after having "attempted to kiss her", before seizing a "cord" to strangle her.
The suspect had been convicted in 2008 to "twenty-eight years' hard labour, with a security period of two-thirds", according to information from the newspaper La Voix du Nord. This sentence followed the murder of a woman committed in 2004. He had been released on 31 December 2022, after serving his sentence.
The public prosecutor's office clarified that "the continuation of investigations within the framework of the judicial inquiry will aim to determine precisely the circumstances of the tragedy", emphasising that the man under investigation faces life imprisonment.
Source: Google News FR — Crime (fr)