On September 21, Philippine, a 19-year-old student, was found dead in the Bois de Boulogne not far from Paris-Dauphine University where she was studying. After having listed all the telephones near the place where the body was discovered, the investigators suspect that she came across a certain Taha O.
By consulting their files, the police will quickly realize that despite his young age, 22 years old, the man already has a busy past. “In 2019, I am departmental director of public security for Val d’Oise. I learned from my colleagues that we had a rape that was committed in Taverny and that we have a rapist who is in the wild”, says Frédéric Lauze, police commissioner.
The events took place five years before Philippine’s attack, on August 31, 2019. The victim is a 22-year-old communications student.. While she was walking on the edge of the Taverny forest (Val d’Oise), she was attacked by Taha O. who asked her for quick sex. She refuses. “He threatens her with death, he sticks a piece of wood to his throat and he says to him ‘if you don’t do what I tell you, I’m going to kill you'”, explains Michel Mary, legal columnist.
I was very impressed, like all the investigators, by the courage, the lucidity, the composure, the resilience that she had demonstrated.
Frédéric Lauze, police commissioner
As his life flashes before his eyes, the young woman will show a barely credible composure. “She took him in her arms when she had just been raped, telling him that eventually he could meet again, making him believe that in the end she found him rather sympathetic,” explains Michel Mary.
She manages to temper him. Taha O. asks him for his phone number, she gives it to him thinking that it could be used to geolocate him if he ever contacts her. She will then file a complaint with the police. “I met this victim, I stayed with her for a moment, because we had all been, I was very impressed, like all the investigators, by the courage, the lucidity, the composure, the resilience with which she had demonstrated. And despite the fear, the astonishment, she succeeded in giving us important elements on the physical description of the individual, on the operating mode“, confides Frédéric Lauze.
Two days later, Taha reconnected with his victim and was arrested. Although he initially denies it, he ultimately admits to his rape. Il is sentenced to 7 years in prison.
Five years later, when the victim of Taha O. in Taverny discovers the murder of Philippine in Paris and learns that her attacker is suspected, she is totally devastated. She spoke in a letter that she made public.
“I am the first victim of Taha O. I think of Philippine and her family and I am immensely sad. I did everything to ensure that what happened to me would not be repeated. Why did the prison system- he failed to prevent this recurrence? Why were we unable to stop this escalation of violence leading to the murder of a young woman? A man who rapes a woman is dangerous“. Taha O. was released in June 2024.
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