French state in dock over violence against women

PARIS: A Frenchwoman whose sister and parents were murdered by the sister´s former partner will accuse the state in court on Monday of being responsible for their deaths over its alleged failure to protect the family.

On August 4, 2014, after a car chase through the northern town of Grande-Synthe, Isabelle Thomas, a mother of two, and her parents were gunned down by Patrick Lemoine, an auto-repair technician.

Two months later Lemoine, whom Thomas had met in 2012 after separating from her husband, committed suicide in prison.

A few weeks before the triple murder, Thomas had reported Lemoine to the police for domestic violence after he attempted to strangle her. He was placed on probation and banned from contacting the 49-year-old maths teacher pending his trial, scheduled for mid-August.

But the harassment continued unabated. "He followed her to her lawyer and shoved her lawyer who in turn called the prosecutor. Isabelle filed a complaint and the prosecutor was informed in person but nothing was done," Isabelle Steyer, lawyer for the dead woman´s sister Cathy Thomas, said.

The court case takes place against the backdrop of growing awareness and outrage in France over violence against women.

France is one of the European countries with the highest number of such murders, according to EU figures from 2017, which put it second only to Germany. In 2019, at least 126 women died at the hands of their current or former partner, by AFP´s count -- at least one woman every three days.

On November 23, nearly 50,000 people, mostly women, demonstrated in Paris over what they say is state inaction on the issue -- one of the biggest marches against gender-based violence in French history. Cathy Thomas argues that gross negligence on the part of the justice system led to the murder of her sister and parents.

Lemoine had followed Isabelle Thomas and her parents while they were on their way to the beach. Steyer told Liberation newspaper that Thomas had called the police from the car, warning "He´s going to kill us" but that no officers were sent to investigate. Her lawyer has called it a "textbook case" of "neglect at every level".