Georges Bouniol, who lived with his wife Marguerite (93) in Paris, had been in a critical condition in hospital over the Christmas period and he died on Monday with family members by his bedside. A native of Lozere in central France, Mr Bouniol and his wife found themselves in the media spotlight on December 23rd, 1996 when they learned their only daughter had been murdered near her holiday home in West Cork. They heard on a French TV news bulletin that a young Frenchwoman had been found murdered near Schull and their fears that the woman was their daughter was confirmed soon after and they travelled to Cork along with their eldest son Bertrand to identify her body.
Ms Bouniol later spoke of the sense of horror and unreality that she and her husband experienced when they went to O’Connor’s Funeral Home on Coburg Street in Cork, just days after the murder. Their son Bertrand advised them not to look at the body. [ Sophie Toscan du Plantier’s parents on life without her Opens in new window ] “I said, ‘We have to say goodbye to our daughter,’.
Her face was crushed to a pulp. They’d tried to fashion a sort of mask with make-up, but it didn’t look like Sophie. They had to cut her beautiful long hair, because it was matted and tangled with blood.
“I said, ‘That’s not my daughter.’ I couldn’t kiss her. I couldn’t even hold her hand.
I try not to remember, so I put photographs of her everywhere, to chase away that dreadful image,” said Ms Bouniol in a 20.
