A French female who set fire to her bedridden grandfather alive was sentenced to five years in prison on Wednesday, with four of them suspended, after prosecutors appealed a lower sentence they felt was too light.
Initial Trial and “Act of Love” Defense
In October 2024, a court gave Emilie G., who is 33, a five-year suspended sentence after she pleaded guilty to murdering her grandfather, calling it “an act of love” to end his agony.
Prosecutors appealed the decision, claiming she murdered the 95-year-old as frustrations mounted in her private life and asked for a 15-year prison sentence — the same asked for in the original trial.
Court Revises Sentence to One Year in Jail and House Arrest
But the court drew short on Wednesday, sentencing her this time to five years behind bars, with four years suspended. The final year will be spent under house arrest with an electronic tag instead of in prison.
During the trial, prosecutor Eric Mazaud said that murdering her grandfather was “not an act of love,” as she put it.
“When you love someone, you don’t burn them,” he said at the court in the eastern town of Bourg-en-Bresse.
Gruesome Discovery and Defendant’s Remorse
The victim was discovered dead from severe burns and smoke inhalation in his bed in August 2020.
His granddaughter was remorseful during the appeal hearings which commenced on Monday but could not say why she decided to burn him alive.
“He did not have a death worthy of his life… fire is atrocious, it is inhuman,” she said on Tuesday.
Depression, Overwhelmed Caregiver Role and Relationship Struggles
In the initial trial, Emilie G., who had been described by experts as having depression, testified that she felt overwhelmed by taking care of her grandfather and her children and struggling in a failing romantic relationship.
When her boyfriend told her that he had cheated on her, she poured gasoline on the mattress where her grandfather slept and tossed an ignited sheet of paper onto the bed before running out of the room.
Prosecutor Romain Ducrocq in the initial trial also claimed that Emilie G. murdered her grandfather to “exorcise her frustration and multiple failures.”
Defendant’s Claim: Ending Grandfather’s Agony
But the accused claimed she did it to put an end to her grandfather’s agony, a person she had taken care of and considered her father figure.
She claimed her grandfather requested her to kill him on multiple occasions including in the previous month to his death when she found him covered in his own feces. She claimed she did not inform other members of her family.
Court Rejects Euthanasia Argument
The court said it understood the man’s “weariness,” but determined that at no time “did he ever make an explicit request for active assistance in dying.”.
The judge in charge Raphael Vincent stated that he regarded the “extremely serious” actions to be “in no way a reasoned act of euthanasia”.
As per a psychiatric report, at the time she was in a “dissociative state” and this was reported to “impair her judgement”.
