Life Sentence Upheld for Accomplice in Brutal Murder of French Police Couple

Judgment confirmed for Mohamed Lamine Aberouz. The special assize court of Paris has confirmed his sentence of life imprisonment with a security period of 22 years, after finding the 31-year-old Franco-Moroccan guilty of all the charges against him: complicity in the murder of a person holding public authority, complicity in the kidnapping of a minor under 15 years of age, and association with terrorist criminals. In the eyes of the court, Mohamed Lamine Aberouz is the accomplice of Larossi Abballa who, on June 13, 2016 in Magnanville, killed Jessica Schneider, 36, and stabbed Jean-Baptiste Salvaing, 42, a couple of police officers, in front of their 3-year-old son.

During his trial, Mohamed Lamine Aberouz repeatedly proclaimed his innocence in this case. He claimed that Larossi Abballa had acted alone. But the public prosecutor does not believe the statements of this follower of a rigorous Islam, already convicted in a case of jihadist terrorism. According to her, the accused "was at the crime scene" without any possible dispute. Mohamed Lamine Aberouz is a "full-fledged member of the Islamic State. He acted as a jihadist," she insisted during the hearing.

For the magistrate, the sequence of events confirms that this could only have been carried out in the presence of a second man. "Can we imagine a man, in broad daylight, attacking two potentially armed police officers?" she pointed out. And to continue: "A single man would not have been able to manage the reactions of the 3-year-old child, which are by nature unpredictable. There also had to be an accomplice inside the home to alert Larossi Abballa to the arrival of Jean-Baptiste Salvaing."

A DNA trace found on the right wrist rest of the personal computer of the couple of police officers is the main evidence against Mohamed Lamine Aberouz.