After three long weeks of hearing and more than ten hours of deliberation, Monique Olivier was sentenced on Tuesday December 19 by the Hauts-de-Seine Assize Court to life imprisonment, accompanied by a security period of 20 years, for her complicity in three kidnappings and murders committed by her ex-husband Michel Fourniret. “The court was convinced of the guilt of Monique Olivier,” read the president of the court Didier Safar.
Marie-Angèle Domèce, 18 years old, Joanna Parrish, 20 years old, and finally Estelle Mouzin, 9 years old: the three victims of the serial killer were indeed kidnapped, kidnapped, killed with the complicity of Monique Olivier, judged the court, which also admitted his complicity in the rape of Joanna Parrish and the attempted rape of Marie-Angèle Domèce.
With her head lowered, her eyes half-closed, the 75-year-old accused listened to the verdict, looking impassive. She previously asked for “forgiveness” from the victims’ families and said she regretted “everything I did.”
The court answered in the affirmative to the fourteen questions put to it on the kidnappings, accompanied by rape or attempted rape, and murders of two young women: Marie-Angèle Domèce in 1988, and Joanna Parrish in 1990. Then to the six other questions on the kidnapping and sequestration followed by death of Estelle Mouzin, the youngest of Michel Fourniret’s victims, who disappeared in January 2003.
On Monday, the public prosecutor requested life imprisonment against the accused, with a security period of twenty-two years, “in view of the exceptional seriousness of the acts committed, and the necessary protection of society”.
Enigmatic accused
With a hesitant voice, Monique Olivier presented herself as the victim of her ex-husband, who died in detention in 2021, throughout her third trial before the assizes, which began on November 28.
On the civil parties and prosecution side, the lawyers like the public prosecutor tried to uncover the enigmatic ex-wife of the killer, accused of not having “saved” “little” Estelle while she participated in her kidnapping or again for remaining motionless in the front of Michel Fourniret’s vehicle while he raped and killed Joanna Parrish.
In 2008, the Ardennes Assize Court sentenced Monique Olivier to life imprisonment for complicity in four kidnappings and murders of her husband. Then she was sentenced to 20 years in prison, 10 years later in Versailles, again for complicity, this time in a villainous murder.
She had been sentenced to a total of 30 years in prison during these two previous convictions, and will therefore not be released until 2035.
Various and varied experts, witnesses who met the couple – like this Japanese piano teacher who had refused to give lessons to the son of the Fourniret couple – Selim Olivier himself have taken the stand since November 28.
Sometimes mistreated by the president of the court, they responded to the barrage of questions from the civil parties, represented by Messrs Didier Seban and Corinne Herrmann, and from the defense brought by Me Richard Delgenes.
“Start from truths”
The hearing presented some surprises, such as when investigators from the Versailles judicial police who took the stand on December 8 expressed their skepticism about the involvement of Michel Fourniret in the disappearance of Estelle Mouzin, more than 20 years after the facts.
Unusual moment in the criminal court, again, when Mr. Richard Delgenes took control on Thursday during the interrogation led by the president on the kidnapping of Estelle Mouzin. The latter assailed his client with questions about her lies to investigators. “We had to start from the truths” that Monique Olivier said about the facts “to go further” during the hearing, Ms. Delgenes regretted.
Going beyond the already known confessions and hesitant denials of Monique Olivier will not have been possible during this trial. Monique Olivier made “the choice to keep a dark side on the facts” and on “her full and complete responsibility” in the crimes, regretted one of the attorneys general, Hugues Julié.
Tirelessly repeating “I don’t know” or “I don’t remember anymore” when she was questioned about the facts, Monique Olivier did not provide any new tangible evidence concerning the abuse inflicted on Estelle Mouzin or the location of the little girl’s bodies. daughter and Marie-Angèle Domèce, never found.