Moroccan Suspect Expresses Remorse in 2018 Bergerac Murder Trial

"I ask forgiveness from everyone [...] I regret it. [...] I wouldn’t have done it if I hadn’t been drunk," said the Moroccan suspected of delivering the fatal knife blows. He has been in prison since 2018. When his uncle present at the bar mentioned his painful past, he broke down in tears, reports France Bleu. He only knew his father at the age of 8. They had left Morocco for France. His mother, pregnant, died.

Three other people would be involved in the murder of Mohammed Alillou which occurred in July 2018, Rue des Fontaines in Bergerac. That day, a fight had broken out between the four men and the victim. Like the main defendant, the three others expressed their deep regrets. According to them, this unfortunate event and their incarceration (one of them is not in custody) sound like a "wake-up call". The investigator also notes "a big life lesson".

The lawyer for the civil parties does not believe in the regrets that the defendants have expressed. Nor does she believe in the "wake-up call" they talked about. "To think that the death of Mohammed Alillou has been salvific for the defendants, I don’t believe it for a second," she said, adding that "we shouldn’t get too caught up in this breach of redemption due to the death of Mohammed Alillou."

The Dordogne Assize Court will deliver its verdict on Friday.