Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

The French island of Corsica. MARTAFR via Shutterstock
Corsica

Corsican teen on trial for killing his family as they slept

The accused, named as Andy, killed the family in August 2009 with his father’s rifle.

A 19-YEAR-OLD is going on trial on the French island of Corsica for shooting dead his parents and 10-year-old twin brothers in 2009 in an act he said occurred in a trance-like state.

The accused, named as Andy, killed the entire family in August 2009 with his father’s Winchester rifle when he was 16-years-old.

He then left the house with a laundry bag stuffed with €2,500 euros he took from a safe as well as an expensive watch.

He was found by an uncle the next night on a nearby beach in shock, barefooted and wearing shorts.

“I didn’t know where I was any more. I didn’t hear anything, and my vision was blurred. There was someone else in my place,” he told investigators at the time.

He said his feet “dragged” him to the gun and he felt he “must kill.”

Friends and neighbours told police that the family appeared normal and happy. Andy, who has been described as intelligent and athletic, has not given any explanation for his act.

Psychiatric experts are divided on Andy’s responsibility for his actions that night.

He is being held in Borgo prison in Corsica, where he completed his baccalaureat, seconday school examinations in 2011. He plans to study science.

The trial is scheduled to finish up on Friday.

- © AFP, 2012

Read: Greece tops agenda for EU finance ministers in Brussels >