Family Convicted in Grisly Murder of Father Found Walled Up in Tangier Home

Thus, the eldest son, Mohamed A., was sentenced to life imprisonment, while his mother, Fatima T., was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Two other brothers were sentenced to 20 years in prison, two others to 3 years and a friend of the son to 6 years.

The case revealed a tangle of crimes ranging from murder to concealment of evidence, as well as drug trafficking. The prosecution had requested the death penalty for the main defendants, given the "atrocity of the crime".

During the trial, Mohamed A. denied having tortured his father, explaining that the dispute had broken out after he had discovered that the latter was practicing witchcraft. He admitted to having given him sleeping pills and then finding him dead. Panicked, he buried the body in a wall of their home.

The victim’s wife, Fatima T., for her part, denied any involvement in the murder, claiming that her husband, a follower of Sufi brotherhoods, was often absent for long periods. The other family members gave contradictory versions, some claiming to be unaware of the drama, others accusing Mohamed A. of violence leading to the father’s death.

The judge recalled that the macabre discovery was the result of chance. During a search related to a drug trafficking case, the police discovered the father’s body, handcuffed and in an advanced state of decomposition, hidden in a wall of the house. The investigation revealed that the murder had been committed six years earlier.