Trial of the "Martyr of the A10": Experts Analyze Father's Silence and Admission of Cowardice Decades After the Crime

In the courtroom of the Assize Court in Blois, France, 74-year-old Ahmed Touloub stands hunched over his cane, his white beard visible as he gazes at the floor, appearing almost as a mere spectator at his own trial. These hearings revisit the chilling chapters of the notorious case known as the "Martyr of the A10 motorway," following the discovery of the tortured body of his young daughter, Inass, abandoned by the roadside in August 1987.

The defendant, on trial for complicity in acts of torture and barbarity alongside his ex-wife Halima El Bakhti, displayed no reaction when autopsy photographs were shown, nor when his ex-wife fainted or accused him of rape inside the courtroom. His responses to the court president were mostly limited to phrases such as "I don't remember anymore" and "I don't know," raising questions about his awareness of the criminal life sentence he faces and his ability to defend himself.

The issue of his medical fitness to stand trial was settled on Monday after he underwent radiological scans and blood tests, which confirmed that his health status is compatible with proceeding with the trial, after previous reports had raised the possibility of early-stage dementia nearly four decades after the events.

Admission of Cowardice and Denial of Direct Violence

Before the court, psychologist Sam Hamidi, who evaluated the defendant in 2018, explained that Touloub "did not suffer from confusion or memory disorders and was fully aware of his actions"—a finding corroborated by psychiatrist Roland Coutanceau. The judicial panel is preparing to interrogate the defendant on Thursday in an attempt to understand his psychological makeup and how he remained silent throughout his daughter's prolonged suffering without intervening.

The psychological expert stated that the accused "does not admit to any direct involvement or violence on his part, but acknowledges that he was a coward for not reporting his wife's actions," quoting him as saying: "I have not lived my life since that moment because I was a coward." Nonetheless, questions persisted regarding his silence in the face of the bruises, fractures, and burns covering the child's body, and his concealment of this family secret for three decades, until a DNA match from one of Inass's brothers—arrested in an unrelated brawl—led investigators to crack the cold case.

Was the Father Under His Wife's Sway?

Throughout the evaluation sessions, Ahmed Touloub took care to present himself as a helpless victim in his marriage, recounting his ex-wife's fits of rage and violence directed at him and the children, particularly the girls. Despite their subsequent separation, he maintained his silence, pleading cowardice, and stated that he had been waiting for the police to arrest him to relieve him of this burden. Meanwhile, experts noted a striking absence of little Inass from her father's discourse.

Addressing whether the defendant was completely dominated psychologically by his wife, the psychologist urged caution against fully adopting this hypothesis, while psychiatrist Roland Coutanceau leaned toward the absence of a decisively dominant personality between the two, despite their children confirming the mother's violent and erratic behavior during the investigation stages.

The experts concluded that Ahmed Touloub's psychological profile appears free of antecedents or severe psychiatric disorders. Dr. Coutanceau explained to the court that the defendant falls within the "broad spectrum of normal personalities," stressing that entirely normal individuals can also find themselves entangled in tragic and complex criminal cases.