Pensioner charged with homicide after British lady,11, shot useless in France
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pensioner accused of taking pictures an 11-year-old British girl useless and severely wounding her parents at their residence in northern France tonight mentioned: “It’s so horrible what happened – I don’t understand it”.
Dirk Raats, 71, spoke briefly on Monday night as he was formally charged with the homicide of Solaine Thornton, 11, and the tried murders of Adrian and Rachael Thornton, 52 and 49 respectively.
The Dutch nationwide is accused of aiming a volley of photographs on the household, who’re initially from the Manchester space, as they loved a barbecue on Saturday.
The couple’s youthful daughter, Celeste, eight, managed to get away unscathed to lift the alarm within the Brittany hamlet of Saint-Herbot, close to Quimper.
Raats was taken from a safe police station for a 10-minute look earlier than a decide at Brest Criminal Court.
Wearing a moustache and ponytail, he spoke in pidgin French.
“It’s so horrible what happened. I don’t understand,” he mentioned, after judges confirmed a check confirmed he was “on drugs’” on Saturday.
The court docket heard that Raats had labored as a photographer, shepherd and profession for the handicapped earlier than retiring to France some 5 years in the past.
Anne Guillerme, his defence barrister, mentioned he had “no criminal record” and will have psychiatric issues.
Raats was remanded in custody following the costs, and will spend the remainder of his life in jail if discovered responsible at trial.
Raats’s spouse, who was named as Marlene van Hook, additionally in her 70s, was in the meantime being questioned on suspicion of concealing a weapon.
Mr Thornton remained “critical with life-threatening wounds” on Monday, whereas his spouse was additionally in intensive care on the Cavale Blanche hospital in Brest, the place they each underwent surgical procedure.
All of the Thorntons had been within the backyard of their property – a transformed noticed mill – when photographs had been fired at round 9pm on Saturday.
The Thorntons had lived within the property – a transformed sawmill near Saint-Herbot chapel – for round 5 years.
Raats lived in a neighbouring transformed schoolhouse along with his spouse.
Mr Thornton was well-known across the hamlet and surrounding countryside for serving to out with DIY duties, whereas Mrs Thornton was a house assist.
Solenne Thornton was a pupil at Jean Jaurès College, within the city of Huelgoat.
Pupils on the college had been receiving psychological care on Monday, as lessons resumed as regular on Monday morning, with a ‘medical monitoring team’ in place.
Guylène Esnault, director of training companies within the Finistere division, mentioned: ‘This is a small area, and everyone knows each other. The children will have heard about what happened.
‘The college principal will say what is appropriate to her students, and a monitoring team including a doctor, nurses and psychiatrists is in place.’
Solenne was in Year 6 on the faculty, which has round 150 college students.
The UK Foreign Office mentioned it conscious of the taking pictures and “offering consulate assistance”.