Trial Begins for Moroccan Woman’s Fatal Stabbing in Paris Suburb

Bouchra B.’s family, her three sisters and two brothers, were present at this first hearing of Khalid F.’s trial, their former brother-in-law. The quadragenarian is accused of having stabbed the 1.60m tall victim to death. On the images projected on the four screens of the room, Bouchra’s relatives relive the horror. One of the photos shows the back of their young sister covered with wounds. These are "defense wounds, to protect herself or to seize the weapon," explained the forensic scientist, who does not understand how the accused managed to inflict these knife wounds on the victim’s back.

Bouchra was violently attacked by her husband on the evening of November 26, 2021, in the Carpeaux square in Épinay-sur-Seine (Seine-Saint-Denis), a short distance from the apartment where she lived with her two daughters aged 14 and 5. The accused inflicted a total of 35 knife blows on her, hitting the kidney, the vena cava, the liver, the heart, the lung, etc. Bouchra had no chance of survival, laments the forensic doctor. The projection of the image of the murder weapon, a 21 cm long and 4 cm wide kitchen knife found twisted in a bush, sent shivers through the courtroom.

Witnesses take the stand one after the other. One of them recounts having heard "cries of panic" and having gone to the crime scene where he saw Bouchra, lying on the ground, and her husband crouched over her. The latter then got up and declared: "it’s my wife, she cheated on me," before leaving. At the sight of the photos of the victim and the orphans, Khalid F. has trouble holding back his tears. At the beginning of the trial, he asked "forgiveness" for this crime. "I ask forgiveness from my children, from the family, for the facts, from justice, from France, I am really sorry."

Khalid and Bouchra were civilly married in Morocco in 2004. The youngest of a family of six children, Bouchra joined her brothers in France at the age of 18. Khalid, for his part, entered France illegally and went through a series of odd jobs in Seine-Saint-Denis. He first married a woman with whom he had two sons. Then he broke off this relationship and got together with Bouchra. They had their first daughter in 2007. But Khalid is addicted to cannabis and gambling. His eldest daughter describes him as a threatening husband and a frightening father. He was even convicted in 2021 for violence and death threats against Bouchra. He was released from prison at the beginning of this month. Three former inmates claimed that he intended to "kill his wife".