On the occasion of the international day against violence against women, Monday November 25, Isabelle Fouillot, the mother of Alexia Daval killed by her husband seven years ago, confided to ELLE: “Every year, figures of feminicides parade: 100, 120, 140 women killed… We forget their first names, we no longer know who is who. » And to call for telling the broken destinies of these women killed every year because they are companions, mothers, daughters. ELLE offers you the story of ten of them, ten symbols which, beyond the tragedies, demonstrate the diversity of feminicides and stories which cannot be summed up in numbers.
A news item often gives rise to rumors, especially if the matter is not resolved quickly and politics gets involved. The case surrounding the murder of Christelle Jean-François has taken on such proportions that the public prosecutor of Saint-Denis de La Réunion, in charge of the case, had to issue a press release to remind everyone of the obligation to respect the secrecy of the investigation and the presumption of innocence. But the horror of the tragedy created a real local trauma.
What are the circumstances of this femicide?
Thursday January 25, 2024, agricultural workers discovered under a small concrete bridge, in the town of Saint-Benoît, the trunk and head of a woman, both wrapped in a knotted sheet. The police quickly cordoned off the area and investigators made the link with a telephone call, received two days earlier, from a resident claiming to have seen the body of a lifeless woman transported by two men. A report which was not then taken seriously because it came from a man who was “psychologically unstable” according to the authorities.
Very quickly, and even though the identity of the body is not confirmed, a suspect, a 33-year-old mechanic, is identified and traces of blood erased in his bathroom are brought to light. The mechanic ends up confessing and gives a name: the victim is called Christelle Jean-François. She came to the suspect's home to demand between 50 and 100 euros. The suspect explained that he had sexual relations with the victim in exchange for certain sums of money. An argument broke out and blows were exchanged, until the suspect stabbed the victim.
From then on, the story becomes more vague and the investigation, still ongoing, has not yet clarified the details. The thirty-year-old would have tried to get rid of the body. After cutting up the body in his bathtub, he allegedly asked a neighbor to help him. This alleged accomplice, aged 20, was arrested and indicted.
Who was Christelle Jean-François?
The drama aroused strong emotion as soon as it was publicized. But, if many residents went to the funeral of Christelle Jean-François, few seemed to know her. The information on the victim is indeed fragmentary. She was the mother of two children, a girl and a boy born in 2019 and 2020. On her Facebook account, still accessible today, she only published photos of her young children as well as selfies . The last one dates from February 2023.
Find the stories of these symbolic feminicides:
- Philippine, 19, found dead in the Bois de Boulogne: the politicization of femicide
- Shanon, 13, raped, killed and broken by the poison of “reputation”
- Alicia, 28, killed by her partner because of a mistress who doesn't exist
- Marie-Pierre, 66 years old, executed in front of a court: a feminicide which imposes justice as a witness
- Murder of Corinne Bray, 60 years old, in Gers: the shadow of matricide
Local media report an unemployed young woman, known for wandering in front of her town's bus station where she occasionally prostituted herself. But, in a podcast published on the tragedy by the local news site FreeDom, rare witnesses refuse to describe her as a “prostitute”, calling for respect for the memory of a victim in a situation of social distress.
Why this feminicide is symbolic
If the murder of Christelle Jean-François shocked Reunion Island so much, it is first and foremost because it alone symbolizes the taboo weighing on feminicides in the overseas department. In 2023, Réunion was the fourth French department most violent against women. The statistics are particularly worrying for domestic violence, with an average of 17.3 interventions by law enforcement recorded each day. For domestic violence, the average is 10 complaints per day.
Also, the death of Christelle Jean-François, described as a “mother” – even though the father of her children is absent from this file – had the effect of an electric shock. And the local authorities understood this very quickly: Patrice Selly, the mayor of Saint-Benoît, reacted very quickly by going to the scene of the tragedy and denouncing, on Facebook, a “terrible tragedy”. However, nine months later, no specific announcement has been made for the overseas department and the violence figures do not seem to be trending downward.
