The body of Sihem Belouahmia, a young 18-year-old high school student in Gard, who disappeared on January 25, was found on Thursday February 2. The victim’s family lawyer gave more details on the circumstances of this tragedy. Follow his main statements live.
It was 1 a.m. on Thursday, February 2, when the investigating magistrate and the gendarmes discovered the body of young Sihem. The 18-year-old high school student had disappeared on the night of January 25 to 26. She was lying on the edge of an isolated dirt road in La Grand-Combe, a town adjoining Salles-du-Gardon, in the Gard, where she had left her grandmother’s home on January 25 shortly before midnight.
The main suspect, Mahfoud H., confessed on Wednesday evening before the gendarmes of Alès. Questioned during his police custody, which began on Monday afternoon, he then repeated his confession before a judge and was indicted overnight.
On his instructions, the body of the 18-year-old young woman was found in the night “around 1 a.m. on an isolated country lane, near Grand-Combe”, said the public prosecutor on Thursday. February 2 at a press conference.
The 39-year-old man gave the investigators sufficiently precise information to lead them to the body in a wood in the town of Salles du Gardon, a village bordering La Grand-Combe, where the missing person resided.
Mahfoud H.’s lawyer, Jean-Marc Garrigade, was present with his client at the time of his confession.
“He knows that his fault is not forgivable but his silence would only have made it worse. »Jean-Marc Darrigade, lawyer for Mahfoud H.
“I assisted a man who decided to face his heavy responsibility in the disappearance of Sihem and put an end to an unbearable suspense for his relatives by guiding the investigators, explains Thursday morning Me Jean-Marc Darrigade, the lawyer of Mahfoud H He knows that his fault is not forgivable but his silence would only have made it worse. »
“It takes a form of courage to face this type of confession, to agree to make them, continues the lawyer. It does not happen without a strong emotional intensity. According to Jean-Marc Darrigade, his explanations remained summary at this stage. We do not know precisely the motive: “It is more in a climate of passion than villainy as we could have imagined at the start of the investigation. »
The first elements of the investigation
The prosecutor of Nîmes, Cécile Gensac received Sihem’s relatives on Wednesday afternoon. She spoke at a press conference Thursday at 11:10 a.m.
During her press conference on Thursday, Cécile Gensac explained that Sihem last communicated with friends around midnight on the night of Wednesday January 25 to Thursday January 26. “She was preparing to leave her place of residence in circumstances which suggested that she was going to join a person of her acquaintance, detailed the public prosecutor in Nîmes. She no longer gave any trace of life. »
Confessions in custody
Placed in police custody Monday at 3 p.m. in the premises of the Ales gendarmerie, the main suspect in this case, Mahfoud H., 39, therefore confessed on Wednesday evening.
He had been arrested Monday afternoon in Cendras a few kilometers northwest of the town of Alès in the Gard in connection with the disappearance of Sihem.
His ex-wife, Sihem’s cousin, had also been arrested and taken into custody. Without a criminal record, she was heard to verify the information on the schedule of Mahfoud H. The police custody of the latter was lifted Wednesday evening at 7 p.m.
On Saturday, the Gard gendarmerie had shared a call for witnesses for a disappearance that it considered “worrying”. The investigation was then entrusted to the research brigade of Alès, the first investigations started, the young woman was actively sought.
The high school student had not given any sign of life since the night of Wednesday January 25 to Thursday January 26, 2023. An investigation for “kidnapping and forcible confinement” had been opened on Monday.
