MURDER TRIAL STARTS FOR ‘BLACK WIDOW OF THE RIVIERA’
▶ Patricia Dagorn, 57, accused of seducing then poisoning men in Nice
The trial of a French woman, who has been called the Black Widow of the Riviera for allegedly seducing and killing two elderly men, began yesterday in Nice.
Patricia Dagorn, 57, who is also accused of seducing and poisoning two other men, is facing a life sentence for her alleged crimes.
She is serving a five-year sentence for theft, fraud and sequestration relating to a relationship she had with Robert Mazereau, 88, in 2012.
Mr Mazereau agreed to let her live with him in exchange for sexual favours.
“I almost died for three days of love,” the widower said about the time of Ms Dagorn’s sentencing in 2013.
She first came to the attention of the authorities in July 2011 when police found the body of Michel Kneffel, a man in his 60s, in a hotel room where they had been living.
The investigation into Mr Kneffel’s death was reopened after Ms Dagorn’s conviction and the discovery of Valium and methadone, and documents belonging to a dozen men.
That led prosecutors to another case of suspected murder of an elderly man, also in 2011.
The decomposed body of Francesco Filippone, 85, was found in February that year in a bathtub in Mouans-Sartoux, a village outside Cannes.
Investigators discovered Ms Dagorn had cashed a €21,000 (Dh94,500) cheque from Mr Filippone, which she claimed had been a gift to help her open a jewellery shop.
Investigators believe she met about 20 men through a matchmaking agency after arriving on the Côte d’Azur in 2011. Two of them will testify at her trial.
Robert Vaux, 91, told a local newspaper that his health began to deteriorate when Ms Dagorn moved in with him in early 2012.
“I was heading for death without realising it,” Mr Vaux said.
Police claim she asked her victims to sign blank cheques for her or to name her in their wills, and in Mr Vaux’s case she had already begun to make arrangements with his solicitor.
In an interview with Nice-Matin, Ms Dagorn’s youngest son, Guilhem, 26, said his mother, who trained as a lawyer, had always been obsessed with “quick and easy money”.
Guilhem, who is estranged from his mother, said he was “not surprised” by the allegations.
One of Ms Dagorn’s lawyers, Georges Rimondi, said she denies all the charges, while her other lawyer, Cedric Huissoud, said his client was fragile.
“She’s a very fragile person who’s led a very difficult life,” Mr Huissoud said. “She grew up in a foster family and that’s never easy. She’s had a hard time of it. She says she feels better with elderly people.”
The case has drawn comparisons with the story of Marie Besnard, known as the Good Lady of Loudun, who was accused of being a serial poisoner.
Besnard, who died at the age of 83 in 1980, was charged with 11 counts of murder in 1949 after arsenic was found in the bodies of several members of her family and friends. All had named her as a beneficiary in their wills.
She was put on trial three times, freed in 1954 and eventually acquitted in 1961.
Police claim Ms Dagorn asked her victims to sign blank cheques for her or to name her in their wills