Schizophrenic Man on Trial for Fatal Stabbing in Les Mureaux, France

The trial of Yassine AMB, a 27-year-old Moroccan, accused of the murder of Moustapha A. (44 years old), stabbed to death on the evening of December 22, 2019, opened on Monday and continues before the Yvelines Assize Court. The second hearing is devoted to the psychiatric assessment of the defendant. Since the beginning of his pre-trial detention in Bois-d’Arcy, then in the prison of La Santé, in Paris, the defendant has been diagnosed as schizophrenic, but he "did not have an abolition of discernment" when he inflicted 42 knife wounds, according to the psychiatric expert who met the accused three times. To support her argument, she claims that his attitude after the kidnapping and concealment of the body as well as the cleaning of his home, etc. "goes beyond the framework of the schizophrenic’s act," reports Actu.fr. The expert nevertheless admits that he already had a "background, a fragility" at the time of the tragedy and that the alleged murderer acted out of "panic fear".

If the native of Oujda (Morocco), who arrived in France in June 2019, denies having premeditated his crime, the victim’s family "is certain of it". The investigation and the instruction reveal that he had had several altercations with his victim in the previous weeks. At the origin of these altercations, a reproach that Moustapha A. would have made to the young man. The latter would have harassed his 12-year-old daughter, even going so far as to ask her for her phone number. At the bar, the sister of the accused took the defense of her brother. "Something very serious must have happened" for her brother to give in to this unheard-of outburst of violence, she says, without however convincing the jury.

Questioned about the guilt of her brother, Yassine AMB’s sister gave a disconcerting answer to President Marc Trévidic: "He is a victim, there are two families who are suffering. But it is up to you to say whether he is guilty." The rest of the trial? The testimony of the civil parties that took place on Wednesday will give way to the pleadings and the requisition of the public prosecutor scheduled for Friday, December 1, 2023. After that, the Yvelines Assize Court will deliver its verdict.