In Cold Blood (Re-Screened & Revisited)
The story unfolds:Moroccan security services announced Tuesday in Rabat the arrest of the alleged murderer of an Italian diplomat and his Belgian wife, who were found dead in their villa on Monday morning.
The 34-year-old suspect killer, Karim Zimach, was arrested aboard a car belonging to the European Union Commission in Rabat, MAP news agency reported. Police had found out that the car and other personal belongings were missing on the day of the crime.
Investigations revealed that the victims, Alessandro Messir Dulisianio, an official attached to the Commission's delegation in Rabat, and his Belgian wife Arianne Lagasse de Locht, were stabbed to death by the criminal who had entered the house for robbery.
Police said that Zimach admitted the double homicide.
Dulisianio, 33, had come to Morocco only three weeks ago with his wife and their four children. He was supposed to officially take up his new post on Monday.
“They had moved to that villa only two weeks ago. Nothing could have foretold such a massacre,” said a source from the EU Commission. The four children (a 9-year old boy, a 8-year old girl, and 4 year-old twins), who are still under the shock, are currently receiving psychological support. One of their father's colleagues is looking after them until their relatives take over. Dulisianio started working for the European Commission in 1991. Before coming to Morocco, he had served in Turkey since 2001.
Arrested driving the stolen car ....Cat in Rabat shakes her head incredulously. I guess that Darwin's 'Survival of the Fittest' theory makes no allowances for intelligence (or the lack thereof).
posted by Cat in Rabat ( كات في الرباط) at 1:25 p.m.
21 Comments:
Not only that, but after the killing, he stayed quite a while in the home of the deceased couple: he changed clothes, took a shower, stole the telly and had a chat with the couple's oldest child, aged 9, with whom he shook hands. He left a lot of fingerprints and DNA around. He kept the phone of the deceased with him through the day, allowing him to be localised by the police.
The details of the double murder are gruesome: after killing the parents, he told the four children they would be OK if they stayed in their room. The father was agonising, and begged for help (the killer had apparently departed then), but the eldest son had no cellular phone (stolen by the killer) and the house - a temporary home - had no fixed phone. The eldest son apparently felt guilty about not being able to help his father.
I really hope the killer will get the law's stiffest sentence.
Omigod ... you have an amazing inside source! Thanks for the update.
It is a gruesome case. Those who've seen the children just after the murder will never be able to forget it. The oldest child was woken up by his mother's cries. Even more chilling is the fact that the father, according to the children, told them he loved them and would never forget them. The mother apparently died instantly. How the children, who all saw their parents' corpses, soaking in blood, will be able to get over this, anytime, is beyond me. I'll try and xrite a note on this on my blog.
A mass for the deceased will be held at the cathedral, place du Golan, in front of the wilaya, this Saturday at 11.00.
If they run out of people for the firing squad, I'd volunteer.
I'm against capital punishment, even for guys like this.
But letting him rot for the rest of his life in a 5'x5'x5' dark cell wouldn't offend me.
Given the choice between a hanging and spending the rest of my natural life in a Moroccan prison - I'd be volunteering for the gallows.
Can you tell something to cut short all these rumors about the way he was killed ? Did you see the body ?
and another one...a moroccan site says he was a owner of an internet café; other sites say that he had worked in the house of the couple few days before (installing an internet access ?). Do you know more ? Can you tell us something about what the moroccan press says ?
I didn't see the bodies. My information is second-hand (although I was on the crime-scene the first few hours after the discovery), and stems from the police and the witness (the oldest son). No ritual murder, but the victims were apparently cut by a kitchen knife taken from their own kitchen. As for Internet being installed to this house by the murderer, this is balooney: they didn't have Internet, as the villa was thought to be a temporary home in time for the couple to find long-term accomodation. But it is true that there was some speculation as to whether the murderer had some links to the house, due to the apparent lack breaking-in marks to the door. It appears the killer escalated the wall and slid through a grillaged window.
The RTM showed excerpts of the reconstitution tonight, including thee stabbings, and added that contrary to what was previously thought the husband had been knifed first (but died later), and only then was his wife knifed by the murderer (she died instantly). The Moroccan press I've read tells no different story as to the substance.
There's no hanging in Morocco btw, capital punishment is meted out through a firing squad, usually at the Air Force base in Kénitra.
I have just searched for an hour and found one article that says that it was not planned and he just "happened" to be in the neighborhood. One doesn't "happen" to be in that neighborhood without a car and carrying some kind of weapon that could kill two adults?
I haven't come accross the sites you mentioned.
It is not yet really clear what the presumed killer did before he got into the house. He was btw under the influence of drugs ("karkoubi") and alcohol. But many buses go to Hay Riad, especially this area, close (500 m) both to the European Commission's Delegation in Riad Business Center and to the Supreme court. He could also have gotten there by taxi either from Temara, where his parents live, or from his hideout in Akkari, where he was arrested.
According to the reconstitution, he got in through another villa. The knife he used was taken from the kitchen.
The murders were most certainly not planned, as the husband didn't die instantly, but was instead badly hurt, tied with socks or stockings and left to die from his wounds on his bed.
The eldest son has been confronted to pictures of the presumed killer, with a positive outcome (the psychiatrist following him advised against any physical confrontation). He was rapidly identified on account of the fingerprints he left on the crimescene - as you may know, every Moroccan gives a specimen of his fingerprints to the ministry of the Interior when applying for a "carte nationale". Once the police had his name, it was a matter of time before they found him. The results from DNA-testing are not yet in though - the sick fuck had the nerve to take a shower and change into the clothes of the deceased before leaving, and consequently left tons of DNA-material behind him.
I have much more info, directly from the investigation, which I will post, inch'allah.
I can't imagine who you are Ibn Kafka- (excellent French and English have rarely seen such native speaker quality!) but thanks for updating us with what you know. I know this thing happens all the time but I can not get my head around this one. It has really hit hard. Too many questions remain and I just can not stop thinking about those little ones.
Those houses look close together- didn't anyone hear the screams?
Another thought- yes, there are buses out there but it was a rather random house to pick on- what possessed him to go out there stop there?
The houses are indeed close. The neighbor to the left had apparently heard the murdered woman's cries, but did not react, unclear why.
As to the house, it apparently wasn't all that random. A Spanish diplomat had previously lived there, and during the reconstitution the suspected killer showed how he had entered the murdered couple's villa from another villa. Their car, with yellow diplomatic plates, was parked in front of the garage. It might have given the killer the notion that there would be a lot to steal there - wrongly, as it was a temporary accomodation and they still hadn't received their personal belongings. So picking this house, contrary to what I believed only yesterday, wasn't all that random. But no "objective element" (i.e. physical evidence, or statement from the lone witness, or from the suspected killer, who has admitted to the killings) whatsoever gives credence to any other theory than the robbery gone awry. I know that a lot of expatriates would in some way be more at ease with a political motive (either because of they are unconfortable with this country or its islamists, or because it would give the murder a rational explanation), but suffice it to say that neither the Italian embassy's or the EU Delegation's security officials have any doubt in the substance of the official version as stated by Moroccan police authorities. But that will never stop people from talking...
Hi Ibn Kafka
thanks for your previous replies
Here is more from me
I have found in a web site (a moroccan weekly mag) which says that Hay Riad (which I reckon is rather large neighborood) borders as a matter of fact a bidonville. Is this bidonville by chance Temara or Akkari ?
Concerning the Internet thing is just an inference of mine: as I wrote in my previous post, according to another moroccan site listed in google news france, the arrested individual was the owner of an internet cafe...from that my hypothesis.
Concerning the context I have one question (I am sure you can answer) which is the following: have the Moroccan judges/media noted a statistical increase of theft/robbery against foeigners lately ?
You know that these things happen in waves.
One, two good thefts and then the modus operandi gets known and gets replicated.
Another one: Have many been arrested on the basis of violent acts committed under the effect of drugs lately ? Has the guy been tested positive ? and for which type of drugs?
This murder could be correlated to the proximity b/een people living much above the standard and people living much below the standard.
In certain cases one can notice peaks in violence where a new psychotropic drug is being tested in the market.
Any data about this ?
Congratulation for your blog.
Incredible info, Ibn Kafka - my husband tells me that "karkoubi" is a kind of tablet, is that correct?
You can use this as reference (in french and arabic)
http://video.chkoune.com/?2006/04/26/27-karkoubi-au-maroc
Drogue
Les ravages du Karkoubi au Maroc
Réunion de rédaction. Il faut arrêter les sujets de la semaine. Les propositions fusent. Dans la rubrique société, le sujet semble tout indiqué : un drame vient de se produire à Khouribga. Un homme drogué au Karkoubi a été pris de folie. Il s’est mis à distribuer des coups de couteau dans la rue. Deux passants y ont laissé la vie. D’autres ont été grièvement blessés. Même un cheval a succombé aux coups. C’est dire la force que l’agresseur a puisée dans son psychotrope ! Et ce n’est pas le premier cas, loin s’en faut ! Les drogués au Karkoubi perdent souvent la tête. Ils peuvent agresser, tuer, se dénuder, tenter un vol plané... C’est selon. Or, les drogués au Karkoubi, il y en de plus en plus. Le Karkoubi, c’est la drogue du pauvre. Son prix est très « attractif ». La décision est alors unanime : le sujet ne sera pas confiné dans une page société. Il en faut plus pour tirer la sonnette d’alarme. D’où ce dossier. A lire pour tout savoir sur les ravages du Karkoubi au Maroc.
http://www.lereporter.ma/article.php3?id_article=645
I think we should nominate Ibn Kafka for an Edward R Murrow Award for his achievement in electronic journalism.
Thanks for the flattery, but I simply happen to have the information handy, and given the rumors that have spread, including in European expatriate circles in Rabat, I feel bound to publish what I know. If the killings had a political or religious motive, I wouldn't have mind saying so, but this isn't the case. I do not really think that the first thing the world needs right now is another baseless rumor in the "clash of civilisations"-series.
Hay Riad is not that close to Temara (ten minutes by car), which is a suburb to Rabat. Temara is a mixed town really: it used to be a sleepy seaside resort 15 minutes from Rabat, and is now what is called a "cité-dortoir" in French, where many of those who cannot afford rent in Rabat move in to. You have shantytowns in Temara, but also residential areas (although admittedly less glamorous than Souissi, Les Ambassadeurs or La Pinède). And the suspected killer wasn't the owner of a cybercafé, but only the manager (a manager can be paid between 600 and 2000 dirhams monthly, i.e. 55 and 180€).
Akkari is not far away from the center of town. Its market is well-attended by expatriates looking for fruit and vegetables at bargain prices, but it really is a low-income area.
Crime statistics are not really in the public domain here in Morocco. You do get some statistics, especially in the police force's own magazine Police Magazine, but I wouldn't base any sociological judgment on those. From what I know the most frequent crime committed against foreigners concerns grabbing cellular phones, purses and handbags, and probaably less often than in Paris or Brussels. Murders are rare, but do happen, as was the case with a 17-years old French tourist who was stabbed to death in Fès.
The effects of karkoubi reflect themselves in the crime rate, but once again, exact figures are unknown. In my former life in an European country, violent non-lethal crimes committed under the influence of rohypnol were very frequent, at around 20% of the perpetrators being under the influence of such drugs (as compared to 35% under the influence of alcohol). You just have to read the crime section of any Moroccan newspaper to get an idea of the widespread effects of karkoubi on violent crime.
I tend to shy away from self-promotion, but here it is: my post on the double murder in Rabat - http://catinrabat.blogspot.com/2006/09/in-cold-blood-re-screened-revisited.html .
May this poor man and wife R.I.P. God only knows what terrible emotions they endured before they died; and the terror they felt that their children might be harmed.
Our thoughts must now be with those poor children; we must pray they have not been permanently damaged by these horrific events.
Any new info. Ibn Kafka. I read your blog- excellent work.
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