Overview

• In Vendée, after a two-year inquiry, the public prosecutor requisitioned on July 24 the referral of Michel Pialle to the cour d’assises for voluntary homicide by spouse, rejecting his claim of an accidental shooting.
• Pialle confessed in June 2023 to killing his wife Karine Esquivillon with a 22 Long Rifle while photographing it for sale, though he maintains the shot was unintentional.
• Forensic autopsy confirmed that Esquivillon died from a rifle bullet to the thorax and prosecutors cited Pialle’s shifting accounts to argue for premeditated murder.
• In Saint-Pierre, Réunion, a 62-year-old mother and her 29-year-old partner were indicted on August 1 for voluntary homicide and failure to assist a person in danger after a 45-year-old woman was found dead.
• Investigators pointed to cranial trauma, subdural hematoma, old bruises, and contradictory testimonies—coupled with evidence of intoxication at the scene—to reclassify the Réunion case as deliberate homicide.