Cold Case Breakthrough: Parents Face Trial in ’Little Martyr of A10’ Murder After 40 Years

In its ruling, the Court of Cassation ruled "that there is no need to grant the request" dated January 20 by the Attorney General at the Orléans Court of Appeal, who cited "structural and circumstantial reasons", in particular the lack of resources of the court, to request to "postpone the trial". The mother of the little girl, whose body had been found in a ditch on the A10 motorway near Blois in August 1987, is being prosecuted for "torture and acts of barbarity resulting in death" and her father for "complicity", recalls Ouest-France.

The trial of the child’s parents could not be held "before the end of 2026 or the beginning of 2027", in particular for reasons "related to the state of health" of the magistrates, or to the seat of the court which would not be adapted to this "highly publicized trial", argued the public prosecutor’s office. Due to her swollen face, the identity of the little girl had not been established until her burial in the village cemetery with the epitaph "Here lies an angel". It took thirty good years for the investigators to discover that it was the little Inass, of Moroccan origin.

It is thanks to the DNA of her brother, arrested in 2016 in a case of violence, that the investigators were able to trace back to the parents of the little girl. Of Moroccan origin, the couple who had seven children, had been indicted in 2018 for "murder", "concealment of a body" and "habitual violence against a minor under 15 years of age". Now aged 71 and 73, they will be tried for "torture and acts of barbarity resulting in death" for the mother and "complicity" for the father.