Martyrdom of the A10: “He admits to having been a coward”… Experts try to break through the silences of the accused

At the Assize Court of Blois,

For more than a week, Ahmed Touloub, 74, has seemed to be a spectator of his own trial. With his back bent, leaning on his cane, the accused with a bald head and long white beard tirelessly stares at the ground. Sometimes deliberately, as when the Blois Assize Court released photos of the autopsy of his daughter, Inass Touloub, whose tortured body was found on the side of the A10, in August 1987. But very often, the septuagenarian, tried for complicity in acts of torture and barbarity alongside his ex-wife, Halima El Bakhti, seems elsewhere. He did not react when witnesses came forward to recount the emotion felt in front of this bruised body. No more when his ex-wife collapsed unconscious or even when she accused him of rape.

Is he aware that he faces life imprisonment? And is he able to defend himself? The question, recurring since the opening of the trial, was finally resolved this Monday: after a scan and a blood test, his condition was judged compatible with this trial while a previous expertise questioned the beginnings of dementia. The fact remains that since the trial opened, his responses to the court have often been limited to “I don’t remember, Madam President”, “I don’t know”, “I don’t remember”. Should we see it as a defense strategy or the effects of a trial being held 39 years after the events? Probably a bit of both.

“He admits no direct involvement”

Already in 2018, “the man looked like an old man”, recalls psychologist Sam Hamidi, who assessed him. But at the time, “he was not confused” and did not have “memory problems”. “He was lucid and conscious of his actions,” adds psychiatrist Roland Coutanceau. Before his interrogation, scheduled for Thursday, the court tried to understand the psychological functioning of this man, accused of having witnessed Inass's ordeal without intervening. “He admits no direct involvement on his part, no violence but recognizes having been cowardly in not denouncing the actions of his wife,” the psychologist returns to the stand, emphasizing his “sadness”. “I didn’t live my life from that moment on because I was a coward,” he told the expert.

But then why, well before Inass's death and the abandonment of his body, did he remain silent in the face of the bruises, the fractures, the bites or the burns which dotted his body? Why didn't he break this family secret which held for three decades, until the DNA of one of Inass's brothers – arrested for a trivial fight – “matched” and the investigators traced him?

Throughout the expertise, Ahmed Touloub constantly presented himself “as someone dominated in his relationship”, taking refuge behind the violent outbursts of his wife, who could “hit, break”, analyzes Sam Hamidi. “She was violent with me, with the children, especially with the girls,” he told the expert. But how can we explain that he remained silent even after his divorce? According to the expert, he was waiting for the police to come and arrest him to “free him from this burden”, stressing that “Inass was almost absent from his speech”. Sitting next to him, Halima El Bakhti listens to him, her arms crossed, her expression closed. Friday, during her interrogation, she never stopped denouncing this husband who imposed a life on her in France, forcing her to leave Morocco and its landmarks.

Was Ahmed Touloub under the influence?

Was he under the influence, the president of the Assize Court seeks to understand. Possible, believes Sam Hamidi, even if he calls for caution. “We remain very cautious about this working hypothesis based on his statements. » The psychiatrist is more doubtful. “Was there one personality more dominant than the other? This is not obvious,” says Roland Coutanceau. During the investigation, however, the couple's children detailed at length their mother's outbursts of violence. “She was violent against her, against us,” said the eldest, while the second evokes “a whirlwind of madness” and “mood swings”.

Conversely, Ahmed Touloub's personality appears much “smoother”, with no psychiatric history. “He does not have any marked personality disorders,” insists Dr. Roland Coutanceau. “Given the seriousness of the facts, you conclude that this person is very normal,” the president seeks to understand. Without a shadow of a doubt, continues the expert: people within “the broad spectrum of normality” can find themselves in criminal cases.