French fugitives died in suicide-murder in South Africa

Two French fugitives who died after a shoot-out with South African police last month died in an attempted murder-suicide. Ballistics tests and an autopsy showed that Philippe Pierre Menière shot dead his wife Agnès Jardel then tried to kill himself before being shot by police.

AFP /Rodger Bosch

“He shot himself and was wounded, but that was by the time the police were already storming the building,” said police spokesman McIntosh Polela. “He died as a result of both shooting himself and the shootout with the police.”

The couple had spent six days on the run before police tracked them down in an abandoned farmhouse.

They had allegedly killed a policeman and wounded another during a search of their house for illegal weapons. Police say Jardel opened fire when police tried to arrest her husband.

The Independent Complaints Directorate, which investigates police shootings of civilians, has launched an enquiry into the shootings, but has not yet reported its findings.