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1 December 2004
BRUSSELS – The wife of French self-confessed serial killer Michel Fourniret was complicit in the murder of the Belgian 12-year-old Elisabeth Brichet although it is still unclear whether she played a direct role, it has emerged.
In northern France on Tuesday, a reconstruction of Brichet’s 1989 abduction and murder confirmed that Monique Olivier at the very least knew what her husband intended to do to the Namur girl.
Namur’s attorney general Cedric Visart de Bocarme was among several Belgian and French investigators who watched the re-enactment of the events of 21 December 1989 and questioned Olivier, who had agreed to take part.
Visart de Bocarme said the reconstruction didn’t reveal any new information.
However, Charleville-Mezieres’ attorney general Francis Nachbar added: “It allowed us to confirm the ‘active participation’ of Monique Olivier, already charged in Belgium for assisting in the kidnap, the rape and the murder.”
What isn’t certain is whether Olivier helped Fourniret rape Brichet and whether she took part directly in the murder.
To help with the police reconstruction, Olivier was taken on Tuesday at 9am to Chateau du Sautou in Donchery – the couple’s former home where Brichet was buried.
Two hours later, she went with officers to a dilapidated cottage in Floing, 9km away, another of the couple’s former properties.
She told officers how she and Fourniret spent the night there after kidnapping Brichet from Saint-Servais in Namur.
She said she made dinner for her baby son and Brichet and claimed she wasn’t present when Fourniret tied Brichet up on a bed and sexually abused her.
Police believe Fourniret raped, or at least attempted to rape, the girl at this point.
Fourniret refused to take part in the reconstruction on Tuesday because he says he didn’t rape the 12-year-old.
Investigators were annoyed that Olivier claimed to have forgotten many details about events, including whether Brichet called for her to help her when she was being raped.
They were also angered that Olivier talked far more about herself than the dead 12-year-old.
Oliver is nevertheless hoping her co-operation with police will win her leniency when she is sentenced for her part in her husband’s crimes.
Fourniret has now admitted to eight murders in Belgium and France.
[Copyright Expatica 2004]
Subject: Belgian news