Her name was Isabelle. Aged 51, the home help was described as “devoted to others”, “empathetic” et “comely” by his relatives, reports the Voice of the North. During New Year's Eve, she became the first femicide victim of 2025. Only three or four hours after the start of the new year, emergency services in the North received a call from her companion. The 49-year-old man then explained “having done something stupid”.
Isabelle's body was found Wednesday by firefighters at the family home in Hautmont (North) after the“call from a man who, on the spot, indicated that he had killed” his partner, underlined the Valencienne public prosecutor's office in a press release. This mother of two adult children had “received several blows all over his body”. Present on site, the suspect was arrested «sans incident» et “had no criminal record”. Indicted for intentional homicide by a spouse, Isabelle's companion was placed in pre-trial detention on Thursday, the Valenciennes public prosecutor's office said this Friday, January 3.
On December 11, the accused had “expressed the desire to end his life” and the police went to the couple's home. Five days earlier, he had filed a handrail with the Maubeuge police station.indicating that he suspected his wife of adultery”continued the press release.
“We never question the victim’s past”
A clarification from the prosecution that the Minister responsible for Gender Equality, Aurore Bergé, did not appreciate. “We never question the victim’s past, that’s not what matters to us”she insisted this Friday on France Inter. She, on this occasion, reaffirmed that she would go there “at the request of the mayor of Hautmont, to understand, to listen and above all, above all, to act”. Two days earlier, Aurore Bergé was indignant about X: “This is the first feminicide of 2025, already one too many. The government's determination is total to stem this scourge. And all means will be mobilized”.
The mayor of Hautmont Stéphane Wilmotte (various right) for his part deplored in a message on Facebook a tragedy which “reminds us of the urgency of fighting all forms of violence, particularly domestic and domestic violence”. “Our territory is unfortunately experiencing an increase in this violence”writes the elected official.
In 2023, 96 women were victims of marital femicide in France, a figure down 19% compared to 2022, according to the latest report from the Ministry of the Interior published at the end of November. The Northern Federation of the Communist Party called in a statement to “act collectively so that such tragedies stop”while the national secretary of the PCF Fabien Roussel deplored on “governments follow one another without responding to this scourge”.
