French police officers are facing disciplinary action over the death of a woman who was shot and burned alive in the street by her estranged husband, weeks after she told police she feared for her life, reports The Guardian.
Mounir Boutaa allegedly shot his wife, Chahinez, at least twice in the legs yards from her home on the outskirts of Bordeaux in broad daylight in May, before soaking her with petrol and setting light to her as she lay injured on the ground.
Two months earlier, Chahinez Boutaa told police her husband had ambushed her in the car park of a local supermarket, forced her into his van and held her prisoner for two hours while he beat her. Police, apparently unaware that he was reporting to the probation services, assured her they would track him down.
Public shock at the violence of the attack turned to anger when a French newspaper revealed the police officer who took the victim’s complaint had himself been convicted of domestic violence.
All of the police officers involved in the case, including a commissioner, two commanders and a brigadier, face being disciplined over a “series of failures” in the police and legal chain, including a failure to take seriously the threat posed by Boutaa to his wife, the French radio station France Inter reported.