A 49-year-old man was indicted and imprisoned for attempting to kill his partner by hitting her in the face with a trowel, the Bordeaux prosecutor’s office said in a statement on Thursday.
The facts took place Monday at the couple’s home in Villenave-d’Ornon, south of Bordeaux.
A passerby, alerted by “continuous screams” from a neighboring house, intervened “by jumping over the gate” and using force to control the man “who was hounding the victim” .
According to the hearings of the various witnesses, who “stated the determination of the individual”, the respondent then threatened verbally to “kill” his companion.
The latter, aged 47, had “various bruises and wounds, some of which were very deep on the face”.
A suspect unknown to the services
The victim, who presented “a sharp wound on the level of the cheek as well as two defensive wounds on the level of the palm of the right hand and also on the back of the two hands”, was transferred to the hospital.
The suspect, originally from Mozambique and unknown to the French police, acknowledged the violence exerted on his companion but “denied having wanted to kill her”.
The couple’s three children, including a 15-year-old minor who was the subject of an immediate provisional placement order, were heard by investigators.