Why stop at two? Véronique Courjault has confessed today of having killed three babies, one while in France, and two in Korea.
Before moving to Seoul, she is said to have given birth secretely to a baby, in July 1999, and to have burned the body.
Véronique Courjault also declared that she had two successive pregnancies in Korea and stangled both babies. Thus, they weren’t twins: the first one was born in 2002, and the second in late 2003, before this 38 year-old woman underwent an hysterectomy in a Seoul hospital.
The article continues by stating that both spouses are still held in custody and have been transferred to the “Palais de Justice”, the building where the court and prosecutors offices are housed [ie, not in the precinct anymore]. The prosecutor and the lawyer of the Courjaults are said to have scheduled press conferences for tonight [GMT+1].
UpdateAnd today the story is above the fold in Le Figaro, as I predicted… Just barely above, but there it is, on the right. And the snippet on page 1 links to a full page on the subject, page 9…
Apparently the husband was charged as an accomplice to his wife, but was let go, pending trial.
Strangely enough, the PDF version [a copy of the print version] and the online version of the Figaro’s article don’t match completely – possibly a rewrite. The print version says that:
The prosecution asked that Véronique Courjault be examined by a psychiatrist as soon as possible. The prosecutor [in charge] said he was convinced Jean-Louis Courjault knew about the babies, and helped his wife give birth and kill the babies.
Which makes sense…
The online version mentions that many questions remain unanswered, and that police investigators may have to go to Seoul. Which, I am sure, will please Seoul’s finest just fine… The article mentions that the motives are quite unclear, except for a feeling of power on the babies V. Courjault said the infanticides gave her. Whatever…
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I wonder what her family members will say now—those who were doubting her confession yesterday?
And let’s not forget that she worked at the French school as an assistant in the school’s kindergarten/preschool section…Nice to have such a monster looking after your kids.
Wow. Even knowing the ‘whole story’, still none of it makes sense. Who wants to bet she raises an insanity defense in her trial?
How big of a story is this in France?
8pm news [the equivalent of Korea's 9시 뉴스], 1st page below the fold for newspapers. [but then there's been a football game, France-Faeroe, 5-0, thank you, and a train crash. I am betting on above the fold tomorrow].
What I don’t get is, okay Mistah C. was away a lot on biz trips. And apparently only banged Madam once every 9 months, to get her, unknowingly, pregnant again. And inbetween never noticed she was with child. Okay. [Duh]. But when he was in France…? Was he also always on the road, and never looked at his wife…? Come on…
“Ma cherie, you are so big these days! You should lose some weight!”
“Alors, I know, mon cher, I will try….”
Ugh, I feel so tasteless now.
It really is a sad story, so that’s the last flippant comment from me on this topic.
For what it’s worth this is the first piece of news on TF1’s 8 o’clock news [showing right now], with the next segment being “Is it really possible to hide a pregnancy?” [with the underlying answer being No!”
Apparently, V. Courjaults have been charged and arraigned, and J-L Courjault is being interrogated now, and whether he is going to be charged will depend on the issue of the interrogation. According to TF1, V. Courjault could be sentenced to up to 30 years in the clink, which sounds cheap.
But the latest news does make all those bizarre conspiracy theories from a few months ago (esp. the idea that the corpses were planted because of some rival IT firm or something) seem all the more bizarre…. I mean, really, WTF!?
yeah, what *LE* fuck…
Now there are cases of Americans, obese americans, not knowing that they are pregnant until they give birth. But upon doing a google image search for “Véronique Courjault”, I find that she is not that fat (a little big boned maybe)…
BTW, what should I make of a picture of a frozen hamburger steak in a freezer turning up in a search for her name?
It apears to be the main and only photograph used in an article about her.
This couple does have some surviving offspring though, don’t they?
It strains credibility to think that she carried three other pregnancies to term and he never noticed once. There’s something really wrong with both of them, if that’s true. And, yes, there have been cases where women or teenagers have concealed their pregnancies. But to do it three times?
I also have to wonder if this is some extreme corruption of her faith–are they Catholic? Would this explain why she just didn’t use some form of birth control if she didn’t want any more kids? She just kept hoping that she wouldn’t get pregnant again? Thank God she ended up with a hysterectomy before this continued..
Wasn’t there supposedly a young woman seen leaving their apartment while they were away? I don’t think she had the babies, and I don’t think they were in that freezer all along. Her embryo could have been transferred to another woman.
dda, d’après moi, son avocat compte plaider l’insanité mentale.
(I get a feeling her lawyer will plead insanity)
Predictable, yes. Considering that the prosecution asked for a psych evaluation, I’d say that it plays into the hands of the defense… It’s gonna be either 30 years in the klink or in the loony bin. But the hubby won’t be able to play this card [innocent until proven guilty, yada yada, I know]. Since he denies – even now – any participation in the murders, and any knowledge of the pregnancies, it’s gonna be hard for him to prove he’s loony, should he be prosecuted…
I also have to wonder if this is some extreme corruption of her faith–are they Catholic? Would this explain why she just didn’t use some form of birth control if she didn’t want any more kids?
Oh, please. Even my Catholic-to-the-core mom gave up on the rhythm method after her seventh child thirty years ago. The traditional large Catholic family has pretty much disappeared in the West as modern Catholics have long ignored the Church’s prohibition of artificial means of birth control.