Murder of Philippine: after his extradition, the suspect was indicted for repeat murder and rape

Wednesday November 6, 2024, Taha O., main suspect in the case of the murder of the Philippine student, was indicted in France for “murder accompanied by another crime”, declared the Paris prosecutor's office AFP.

Indicted for repeated rape and fraud

This 22-year-old suspect had been handed over to the French authorities in Annemasse (Haute-Savoie), a few hours earlier, after having been detained in Switzerland for several days. He had refused his extradition to France, before accepting it.

At the same time, it was also indicted for repeat theft and fraud as a repeat offender for acts committed in Montreuil. According to BFMTV, the prosecution specifies that he was placed in pre-trial detention. These various charges also imply for the young man that he faces life imprisonment.

Presented to a liberty and detention judge, he was then confronted by an investigating judge. During his interrogation, he preferred to remain silent.

A suspect already known to the courts

Taha O. was arrested in Geneva four days after Philippine's murder. The body of the 19-year-old teenager, enrolled at Paris-Dauphine University, was found buried in the Bois de Boulogne, west of Paris, on September 21.

Aged 22, the suspect arrived in France from Spain five years earlier. He had already been sentenced to 7 years in prison for rape after acts committed in Taverny (Val d'Oise). He ultimately spent 5 years behind bars.

Under an obligation to leave the territory (OQTF)the suspect was then placed in an administrative detention center in Metz. Placed under house arrest in a hotel in Yonne upon his release on September 3, he never went there and was included in the wanted persons file the day before Philippine's murder.

Three days later, on September 6, Morocco, his country of origin, sent a consular pass to France to allow his expulsion. Taha O. was then already in the wild.