Prosecutors seek 15 years in jail for French woman who burned grandfather alive

New Straits Times

25-06-2025

BOURG-EN-BRESSE, France: French prosecutors on Wednesday requested a 15-year jail term for a woman found guilty of killing her bedridden grandfather by setting fire to his mattress, after appealing a previous sentence they deemed too lenient.
In October 2024, a court handed Emilie G., 33, a five-year suspended sentence after she admitted to killing her grandfather, describing it as "an act of love" to end his suffering.
But prosecutors appealed against the sentence, arguing she killed the 95-year-old as frustrations piled up in her personal life.
"He did not die peacefully. This was not an act of love," said prosecutor Eric Mazaud during an appeal hearing at the Ain Assize Court in the eastern town of Bourg-en-Bresse.
"When you love someone, you don't burn them," he said.
The victim was found dead from severe burns and smoke inhalation in his bed in August 2020.
His granddaughter expressed regret during the appeal hearings which opened on Monday, but was unable to explain why she chose to burn him alive.
"He did not have a death worthy of his life... fire is atrocious, it is inhuman," she said on Tuesday.
Prosecutors requested a 15-year prison term on appeal -- the same sentence sought in the first trial.
A verdict is expected later on Wednesday.
During the first trial, Emilie G., who experts said suffered from depression, said she was overwhelmed by caring for her grandfather while raising her children and dealing with a faltering romantic relationship.
On the day her partner revealed he had been unfaithful, she poured gasoline on her grandfather's mattress and threw a burning sheet of paper on the bed before fleeing the room.
Prosecutor Romain Ducrocq during the first trial argued that Emilie G. killed her grandfather to "exorcise her frustration and multiple failures".
But the defendant said that she acted to end her grandfather's suffering, someone she had cared for and viewed as a father figure.
She alleges her grandfather asked her to kill him several times including in the month before his death after she found him lying in his own excrement. She said she did not tell other family members.
According to a psychiatric report, she was in a "dissociative state" at the time, which was said to "impair her judgment".