When Marguerite Bouniol telephoned me recently to ask whether The Irish Timeswould publish an open letter to her daughter's killer, I had to do something, writes Lara Marlowein Paris
I first met Ms Bouniol in 1999, to write a profile of her daughter, Sophie Toscan du Plantier, who was murdered 10 years ago on December 23rd outside her holiday home in Goleen, near Schull.
Sophie's parents have aged in the intervening years. Georges Bouniol, a retired dentist, has white hair now. Ms Bouniol suffers from dizzy spells and seems physically diminished.
Her daughter's absence affects her body, she says.
"You can go for years without seeing one of your children, if you know you'll see them again.
"Years of missing her has a cumulative effect, with the grief. If I could hold her in my arms just once, it would give me strength. I grieved for my parents, but it passed. A child is different. There is no consolation."
We sat at the dining table in their Paris apartment. Mr Bouniol brought a tray with tea and a basket of pastries. Ms Bouniol's frail hand held three white sheets of paper, covered in longhand, with parts crossed out and rewritten. She took a deep breath before reading, in French: "You were the last person she saw; you, her killer . . ."
It was a shock to hear them describe so graphically the horrible last moments of their daughter's life.
Ms Bouniol's voice quavered, but she continued. As I translated the text into English, the three of us discussed every word and paragraph break. It is exactly as she and her husband wanted.
The Bouniols have exhausted every legal recourse. They could not file a suit for denial of justice with the European Court of Human Rights because the investigation is not formally closed in Ireland.
"We're blocked in every direction. We can go nowhere for justice," Ms Bouniol sighs. "Writing this letter was our way of saying we haven't forgotten. It is a letter of despair."
On December 16th, the Bouniols and Sophie's aunt Marie-Madeleine Opalka will travel to Goleen for the 10th time in as many years and will attend a memorial Mass on the 17th.
They will see Supt Liam Horgan, who has always been there to help them and who, Ms Bouniol says, "gives us the courage to go back every year".