Couple ‘killed nanny before burning body in the garden’
A FASHION designer and her lover killed their nanny and burned her body after falsely accusing her of bizarre crimes, a court heard yesterday.
Sabrina Kouider and Sam Medouni savagely beat Sophie Lionnet, 21, as they “interrogated” her over six weeks, the jury was told.
The naive and vulnerable French girl was held captive and threatened with prison, violence and rape if she failed to make admissions, it was alleged.
The couple recorded the interrogations in audio and video shortly before she was killed, the Old Bailey heard.
Richard Horwell QC, prosecuting, told the jury: “They are harrowing. They depict a young, emaciated, frightened and helpless woman – anxious to say and do whatever her two tormentors wanted her to say and do.”
Sophie had gone to live with Kouider, 34, and Medouni, 30, both French citizens, at their home in Wimbledon, south-west London, in January 2016.
Wanting to improve her English, at first she was happy, then bored and finally terrified, the court heard.
Hardly ever paid, she often appeared “scared and hungry”, jurors were told.
Kouider would “shout and scream” at her in public and she complained to neighbours that she was abused and prevented from returning to France.
One witness told police how Kouider knocked Sophie to the ground “in a total rage”, the court heard. “Sophie was on the floor, holding her head and crying,” said Mr Horwell.
Kouider, ex-girlfriend of boy band Boyzone founder Mark Walton, and Medouni deny murder last September.
Sophie was falsely accused of a series of crimes starting with the theft of a diamond pendant, the court heard.
The allegations became more serious, with Kouider claiming Sophie was being “controlled” by black magic.
In a letter to her father, Sophie wrote: “There are a lot of tensions and I’m being accused of things that I would never dare to do. In short, suddenly I feel worried.”
The beatings became more savage and she did not have the strength of will to walk out, the court heard.
Mr Horwell said: “The last hours of Sophie’s life must have been truly wretched. She was subjected, at times, to a brutal and oppressive inquisition and to significant violence.”
Sophie suffered fractures to her breast bone, her jaw and four ribs, and bruising to her left arm, back and chest. After killing her, Kouider and Medouni set their victim’s body alight in the back garden, said Mr Horwell.
“The plan was to dispose of Sophie’s body and explain her disappearance by inventing a story that she had left under something of a cloud and had returned to France,” he added.
But the fire burned for too long and a neighbour dialled 999. Firefighters found Sophie’s remains in the ashes.
Sophie’s parents Patrick Lionnet and Catherine Devallone were in court to hear the opening of the prosecution case. The trial continues.