French Court Reopens Famous Cold Case 27 Years After Gardener Conviction

27 years after the conviction of Omar Raddad for the murder of the wealthy widow Ghislaine Marchal in her villa near Cannes, France, the case is being reopened.

 

A judicial source said that that is the first step in a possible new trial on Thursday.

The Omar Raddad case rocked France in the 1990s. The widow was murdered in 1991, and her gardener, an illiterate migrant of Moroccan descent, was sentenced to 18 years in prison.

However, he has always proclaimed his innocence and asked for a new trial for years. That is now happening, based on new analyzes of genetic material.

The case attracted a lot of attention at the time, especially because of the enigmatic text on a wall, which was applied with the victim’s blood. There is read, in incorrect French, ‘Omar m’a tuer’.

Omar Raddad was partially pardoned by French President Jacques Chirac after seven years in prison.