Trial Begins for Alleged Killer of Oise Restaurant Owner, Faces Life Sentence

The facts date back to 2019. A fight breaks out between Boubou S., then 27 years old, who had just been released from prison after being sentenced to six years for drug trafficking, and Malik (the name has been changed), the cousin of Karim El Bouayadi, the manager of a restaurant in the Plateau de Creil neighborhood, in the afternoon of March 7, 2019. The origin of this dispute is "an apparently important disagreement," notes the investigating judge. According to Karim’s entourage, the accused and one of his friends "had deployed, or had the ambition to do so, a drug dealing point in front of La Palmeraie, a restaurant belonging" to Karim "and located on this same Henri-Dunant street." "On my mother’s life, I’m going to shoot you, get out of here," Boubou S., who was pointing a gun at Malik, allegedly said. Tarek (the name has been changed) - a mutual acquaintance of the two men - failed to calm the spirits.

Karim enters the scene. Boubou S., 31, shoots at him. "The bullet goes through Karim’s skull before hitting the window of the ’Pacha’. Malik then throws himself on Boubou S. to try to disarm him but fails to gain the upper hand and ends up fleeing," reports Le Parisien. The restaurateur succumbs to his injuries at the Creil hospital, shortly before 4 p.m. The accused, Tarek and Anthony R. flee in a car. The criminal investigation police of Creil conduct initial investigations and manage to identify. Boubou S. is then actively sought. He won’t wait for the police to come to him. On March 13, 2019, he turns himself in at the police station, accompanied by his lawyer.

During his various hearings, he seems to regret being the origin of an "unfortunate story." He claims he did not intend to kill Karim with a bullet to the head. The shot would have "gone off by itself," defends Boubou S. "who cites an injury to the hand that was causing him difficulties in holding the weapon properly." The ballistic expert contradicts this argument. If Tarek and Anthony R., who died in a car accident in December 2021, had been suspected of having helped the alleged murderer and were indicted for "murder in an organized gang" and were able to get off (dismissal), the accused is being tried from this Monday, and until Thursday, before the Oise Assize Court, for the murder of Karim and for an attempted homicide on his cousin Malik. He faces life imprisonment.