French officials offer to analyse DNA from murder case in Seychelles
General |Author: Rita Joubert-Lawen Edited by: Betymie Bonnelame | August 3, 2021, Tuesday @ 15:44| 4021 views
The 34-year-old French national was charged with the murder of his girlfriend by the Seychelles Supreme Court in May. (Seychelles News Agency)
(Seychelles News Agency) - The French authorities have offered to carry out DNA analysis in a case involving a Frenchman charged by the Seychelles Supreme court for the murder of his girlfriend in May.
The 34-year-old French national was charged with murder of his 32-year-old girlfriend who was found hanged on April 27 in Club Med Hotel Seychelles on Ste Anne island.
While his appearance before the courts on Tuesday morning was so to make a plea, it was revealed that the DNA evidence collected during the investigations was still in Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean.
"The DNA evidence collected during investigations were yet to leave Seychelles and be tested due to the COVID-19 situation," said the state counsel, Hemanth Kumar.
Kuman said that the "French authorities have come forward to assist us to do the DNA analysis, but there are some protocols that need to be followed. The request from Seychelles has already been sent to the French authorities and they are working on it."
Previously, the courts had been looking into the possibility of sending the samples to Mauritius.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Mauritian border is still closed and the country's authorities are asking that the officials transporting the samples undergo a mandatory quarantine with the evidence they were carrying.
Kumar said that this is not ideal as there are certain conditions that must be respected in order to properly keep samples.
The French suspect will appear before the court again on August 17.
Under Section 193 of the Penal Code of Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean, any person who of malice aforethought causes the death of another person by an unlawful act or omission is guilty of murder. Section 194 states that any person convicted of murder shall be sentenced to life imprisonment.