72‑Year‑Old French Woman Tried for 1980s Torture Killing of 4‑Year‑Old Daughter
A cold‑case murder from the 1980s was reopened after DNA linked the parents to the child’s body.
Cold‑case justice finally arrives.
Halima El Bakhti, 72, spent the day in Blois court trying to hide her face with a scarf as she faced charges of torturing her four‑year‑old daughter to death in the 1980s.
The prosecution’s case rests on a DNA match that linked the parents to the child, whose body was discovered in a motorway ditch bearing iron burns and human bite marks.
At lunchtime, child‑rights activists chased El Bakhti as she left the courtroom, shouting “shame” and demanding justice.
Her separated husband, Ahmed Touloub, 74, struggled up the courthouse steps with a cane, wearing a black cap, sunglasses and a face mask.
The trial marks a rare moment of closure for a decades‑old tragedy.
