A 54-year-old man stabbed his wife with sixteen stab wounds in 2021, nine days after his release from prison where he was serving a sentence for domestic violence. Justice had failed to warn the victim of her husband’s early exit.
The emancipation of his wife was odious to him: the Assize Court of Seine-Saint-Denis sentenced Friday to 28 years of criminal imprisonment a man who killed his wife in November 2021 in Epinay-sur-Seine, an announced feminicide who has “upset” justice not having been able to prevent it.
After more than four hours of deliberations, the court found Khalid Fahem, 54, guilty of murder by “sixteen stab wounds” of his wife Bouchra Bouali, nine days after his release from prison where he was serving a sentence for domestic violence.
The two children “not far away”
The court took into account “the intention to kill her” that the accused had expressed and “extreme violence” of the act, committed with their two children “not far”.
At the time, this former nightclub physiognomist had just benefited from a three-week early release. However, justice had forgotten to warn the victim, who benefited from protection protocols. Living in extreme fear to the point of equipping herself with a taser and tear gas canister, this 44-year-old woman “breathed” as long as she believed her husband was still behind bars.
“The death of Bouchra Bouali shocked the entire legal community, particularly the magistrates of the Bobigny public prosecutor’s office, and first and foremost those who knew her because they protected her”conceded Attorney General Marina Kieny in her indictment.
The prosecution recognizes the error of not having warned this manager of a ready-to-wear business of the exit of her spouse – which a decree made compulsory in France after this resounding crime. Would that have been enough to avoid this tragedy in the face of the murderous resolve of a man fascinated by knives?
“All he cares about in life is money, his image and killing my mother. These are the three interests of his life.described his 17-year-old eldest daughter, who was chatting on the phone with her mother at the time of the murder, in testimony as implacable as it was moving.
“Kill her and go back to prison”
Khalid Fahem could not stand his wife’s freedom. He, who could neither read nor write, had seen her acquire the marital home alone in 2014, then that of a ready-to-wear store in 2018 where he was only a simple employee.
However, in this spring of 2021, she announces their breakup. It’s the seesaw. “He didn’t kill for love. He killed because for him, it is the day when the last domino falls (…), this day when his image will definitively crack, that of the father, of the worker”analyzed his lawyer Agathe Grenouillet in her pleading. He threatens his wife with death, tells her that he will “cut her throat” with a knife. Bouchra files a complaint, which leads to the first incarceration of Khalid Fahem.
Concerned about the profile of the accused, with a clean criminal record, the Bobigny public prosecutor’s office and a specialized association provided Bouchra with a serious danger telephone, which allows the police to be quickly alerted. Despite this, Bouchra lives on the lookout. In the street, she keeps turning around. She installs a video surveillance camera in her home, changes the lock, and equips herself to defend herself. “She even bought a bulletproof vest. I was shocked with my sisters. But she said ‘he’s a coward, he can stab me in the back’sobbed her big sister Rahma Bouali at the bar.
In his cell, Khalid Fahem broods. “He planned to kill his wife. He had no other plans. Just kill her and go back to prison.”reported one of his former fellow prisoners in Fleury-Mérogis, heard by videoconference.
November 17, 2021, the draw.
On the evening of November 26, sheltered from the cold and the rain in a rental car, the fifty-year-old waited for Bouchra Bouali at the foot of the tower where she lived. During these two hours of waiting, he sees their two daughters aged 5 and 14 come home from school, sharpens the kitchen knife he has just bought in a supermarket, nibbles on candy.
The blows will be so violent that the blade of the knife will be deformed. “I didn’t do it on purpose (…) the shots went off like that”evaded Khalid Fahem in the box, unable to explain his gesture.
On average, a feminicide occurs every three days in France. According to the Ministry of Justice, there were 94 in 2023, compared to 118 in 2022.
