A Frenchwoman nicknamed the “Black Widow of the Côte d’Azur” has gone on trial accused of killing two elderly men for their money and poisoning two others, reports The Guardian.
Patricia Dagorn was described in police reports as a “venal and unscrupulous” woman who preyed on the affections of her ageing and wealthy lovers.
She was accused of murder, poisoning and the administration of harmful substances as the four-day hearing in Nice opened on Monday.
Prosecutors say Dagorn is a serial poisoner who seduced her elderly victims and “siphoned off” their fortunes while secretly administering medication to weaken them. Prosecutors will request a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Dagorn, who is serving a five-year jail term for theft, fraud and kidnapping, vehemently denies the accusations. Her legal team is seeking an acquittal insisting there is a “cruel absence” of evidence to convict her.
Suspicions were first raised in July 2011 when the body of Michel Kneffel, a man in his 60s, was found lying in a pool of blood in a flat in Nice. Dagorn had been living with Kneffel, but police concluded there was no evidence she was involved in his death.
A year later, Dagorn was accused of attacking 87-year-old Robert Mazereau, who had allegedly allowed her to live with him in return for sex.
Detectives investigating the Mazereau attack, for which Dagorn was sentenced to five years in 2013, found bottles of Valium and documents in the names of a dozen different men – including bank details, cheque books, identity papers and a health card – in her possession.
Investigators looked into other local unsolved cases and came across the mysterious demise of Francesco Filippone, 85, whose badly decomposed body was discovered in a bath at his home in Mouans-Sartoux in the hills behind Cannes, in February 2011.