Father Released in Decades-Old French Highway Child Murder Case

After an unsuccessful first request in December, Ahmed Touloub, 66, was released on Thursday and placed under judicial supervision, following a closed-door hearing on Thursday morning, reports AFP. As for his former wife, Halima El Bakhti, she remains in detention.

The media states that the rejection of the first request filed by Ahmed Touloub in December was due to the fact that, according to the public prosecutor, there was a risk of collusion between the child’s father and any witnesses or accomplices. The other thing is that, since his incarceration a year ago, Ahmed Touloub has been hospitalized several times.

For his part, his lawyer, Me Frank Berton, stated that the girl’s mother "alone is at the origin of the facts." Indeed, the same source recalls that during his custody, Ahmed Touloub had expressed his relief at being arrested after having lived "a hell" with his violent wife towards him and their three daughters. "He had waited until 2010, the date of the majority of their last of six children, to ask for a divorce," the lawyer said.

Ahmed Touloub had claimed to have discovered the lifeless body of Inass at his home on August 10, 1987. The next morning, while the family was going on vacation to Morocco, "out of cowardice," he agreed to get rid of the girl’s body, wrapped in a blanket, in a ditch along the motorway. According to him, he would have made "the decision to abandon the body on the road to Morocco the next day, and not to say anything to the police so as not to deprive his children of their mother.