A 56-year-old woman was murdered and her younger cousin seriously injured in a brutal axe attack by a man outside Gagny train station in France on June 20, and investigators now believe to have uncovered the motive behind the crime.
Abdelhak, a 54-year-old man, was formally charged with murder on June 22 at the courthouse in Bobigny, Seine-Saint-Denis, and is now being held at the Fleury-Mérogis prison in Essonne.
He is accused of killing his ex-partner, Fdila, 56, with an axe and leaving her 21-year-old cousin with life-changing injuries.
The attack occurred around 7:00 a.m. when police were alerted by local residents who reported a violent incident. When officers arrived at the scene, they found two women lying unconscious and covered in blood. The victims were rushed to two hospitals — Henri Mondor in Créteil and Lariboisière in Paris.
As reported by Le Parisien, Fdila died at 1:15 a.m. the following day from severe head trauma caused by a blow from a blunt object, according to the autopsy. Majda, still in serious condition, was given a 30-day provisional work incapacity due to a skull fracture on the left side of her head. She has not yet been able to give a statement to the police.
CCTV footage and witness statements assisted the authorities with their investigation. That morning, the two women were walking toward the train station when Abdelhak approached them and attempted to shake their hands. They refused. Visibly irritated, he reached into a shopping trolley and pulled out what appeared to be an axe, immediately striking Fdila on the head.
The weapon slipped from his hands, allowing Fdila a chance to flee. Majda intervened, trying to hold him back, but he shoved her and struck her in the face with the axe. He then chased after Fdila and delivered further blows to her head.
As police sirens approached, Abdelhak fled. He was later found on the station platform, having changed his clothes. Inside his bag, officers found a blood-stained axe.
Relatives of the victims told police that Abdelhak and Fdila had a brief romantic relationship that deteriorated after a financial dispute. “He claims he gave her a large sum of money that was supposed to be exchanged in Morocco,” a source close to the investigation told the French newspaper. “He suspected she had scammed him.”
Following their breakup, Abdelhak began harassing Fdila, often lurking near her home. She stopped going out alone and asked her cousin to accompany her. On June 11, just days before the attack, Fdila filed a police report in Gagny documenting the threats her ex-partner had made toward her.
In police custody at the Bobigny police station, Abdelhak admitted to the attack but claimed he had not planned to kill her. He portrayed himself as the victim of a financial scam, accusing Fdila of pursuing a relationship only to defraud him. He claimed she owed him €15,000.
According to his statement, he had come to Gagny the night before the incident to carry out renovation work at her home, but she dismissed him abruptly.
Unable to get home that night due to train schedules, he said he remained in the area and encountered the two women by chance the next morning. Their refusal to acknowledge him, he said, triggered his violent outburst.
On Saturday, a march was held outside the train station where the attack took place in memory of Fdila, and in solidarity with women who are victims of domestic violence.
The post France: Murder of woman at Gagny train station by axe-wielding ex fuelled by rejection and financial dispute, police believe appeared first on Remix News.
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