Jewish teacher’s killer set to walk free ‘within weeks’
V A MAN who threw Jewish kindergarten teacher Sarah Halimi off her third-floor balcony after smoking cannabis will walk free within weeks after a court ruled he was not responsible for his actions.
Kobili Traoré, 29, who has admitted breaking into the 64-year-old’s home and killing her, will not face criminal charges, the Paris appeals chamber ruled on Thursday.
Lawyers representing Ms Halimi’s family said it was a “scandalous decision” and confirmed they were preparing to appeal to France’s Supreme Court.
Witnesses to the April 2017 attack said Traoré beat Ms Halimi while shouting “Allahu Akbar” and reciting Koranic verses. He then threw her off of her third-floor balcony and shouted “I have killed the sheitan” — Satan in Arabic.
Experts assessing his psychiatric condition agreed he had suffered a psychotic episode but were divided over whether he was still responsible for his actions.
“I am angered and ashamed of our justice system,” Francis Szpiner, a lawyer representing Ms Halimi’s children, told the JC after the verdict was announced.
“It’s a scandalous decision. They have just created a Sarah Halimi jurisprudence.
“Starting today, anyone who has taken illegal substances will be able to walk free, exonerated from any criminal responsibility.
He continued: “Tonight Mr Traoré is
a free man as far as justice goes. He’s mentally sane and will soon be released from hospital.”
Muriel Ouaknine Melki, a lawyer representing Ms Halimi’s brother, said she was “extremely worried about the implications of this decision. I’m worried about the future of Jews living in France.”
There was also a political reaction from Marine le Pen of the farright National Rally party, who said the “major legal scandal” that showed the “dilapidated state” of the French justice system.
The case has stumbled repeatly because of differences of opinion among psychiatric experts over whether Traoré can be held responsible for killing Sarah Halimi.
All experts agreed he suffered from psychosis after smoking a large amount of cannabis, but were divided over whether he could be held responsible for his actions.
Daniel Zagury, a psychiatrist and one of France’s leading court-appointnal ed experts, had previously told the court that he could be tried because his consciousness was merely altered.
But two separate panels of psychiatric experts said Traoré bore no responsibility because he was unaware of his actions during the killing, except for some brief moments of lucidity.
Last month an appeals court prosecutor dropped murder charges against Traoré, overruling a lower court’s call for a trial by saying he should be admitted to a psychiatric hospital instead.
Gilles William Goldnadel, who also represents Sarah Halimi’s family, has previouslly cited a similar murder case from March 2012 that divided psychiatrists over the crimiresponsibility of a man who had killed his wife in eastern France because of his mental state.
An appeals chamber in that case ruled the man should be tried because, where there is doubt over a suspect’s condition, it is up to a jury to decide if he is guilty or not. France’s Supreme Court went on to uphold that ruling.
I’m worried about the future of Jews living in France