THE MOTHER of murdered French film producer, Sophie Toscan du Plantier yesterday spoke of how she believes she will never have peace until her daughter’s killer is brought to justice.
Marguerite Bouniol said that it is only when her daughter’s killer is caught and convicted that she feels she will be able to mourn her daughter with calmness and serenity.
“It is only when we have got justice for Sophie that this rage within me will subside. Until then I will never be at peace because I have this fierce desire to get justice for my daughter.”
Ms Bouniol was speaking after attending Mass with her husband Georges and her sister Marie Madeleine Opalka and family friend Jean Marc Peyron at Goleen in west Cork.
Yesterday’s midday Mass was also the Requiem Mass for local man Seán Griffin from Crookhaven. Parish priest Fr Alan O’Leary remembered Ms Toscan du Plantier in the prayers.
The 39-year-old was murdered at her holiday home near Toormore, between Goleen and Schull, on the night of December 22nd/23rd, 1996.
No one has ever been charged with her killing and her family come every Christmas from Paris to mark the anniversary of her death at the holiday home she bought for its peaceful isolation.
Yesterday, as a light dusting of snow coated Mount Gabriel in the distance, Ms Toscan du Plantier’s aunt, Marie Madeleine Opalka spoke of the great sense they have of her niece at her home.
“We feel her everywhere there. Even last night, when I cooked a meal, we used a tablecloth that belonged to Sophie; she is everywhere in that house and every time we come,” she said.
Ms Opalka said the family still had great confidence in the Irish justice system [and] that her niece’s killer would one day be brought before the courts. She hoped that that day would come soon. “We always have hope, we are coming every year for the Mass and to be with Sophie on this terrible night when she has been killed in such a horrible and brutal way – beaten with a stone.
“This year, as every year, we hope. It would be a scandal if we did not get justice because we are waiting 14 years for it, and we hope to be in a place where everybody can find justice.
“We have confidence in the Irish justice system; the police did excellent work and we believe in the Irish justice, though of course, it is taking a little bit too long.
“We don’t know what will happen next year. We would like to get justice as soon as possible and we continue to hope because we need justice. We deserve justice for Sophie.”
Earlier, the Bouniols laid flowers at the simple granite Celtic cross which marks the spot near the entrance to their daughter’s holiday home where her body was found 14 years ago.