Migrant Accused of Setting Fire to Wife Who Wanted to Live Like a French Woman

An Algerian-French dual citizen has been accused of shooting his wife and setting her on fire while she was still alive after she reportedly acted too much like a French woman.

Mounir B., born in Algeria but later becoming a citizen of France, has been accused of murdering his wife Chahinez B., who he had met in Algeria while on holiday in 2015.

The alleged murder took place on Tuesday in the commune of Mérignac outside of Bordeaux at around 6 pm. Mounir B. allegedly shot the woman several times with a shotgun as she left her home and then sprayed her with a flammable liquid, setting her on fire while she was still alive, Le Figaro reports.

The French Anti-Crime Squad (BAC) arrested Mounir B. just minutes later in the nearby commune of Pessac after he had fled the scene.

During an interrogation with police, Mounir B. claimed that he thought his wife had been unfaithful and only wanted to “leave marks” by setting her on fire, as if to punish her. He has already been convicted of seven crimes in the past, including violence with a weapon.

He also had a history of domestic abuse, with Chahinez B. filing the first complaint of spousal assault in 2020. Mounir B. was convicted in June of that year and was released from prison in December.

According to a source close to the case who spoke to Le Figaro, she wanted to “live in France like a French woman”, but her husband did not want her to, adding “he wanted an Algerian like in Algeria”.

“Her husband is a pretty authoritarian person who made it clear that he wasn’t afraid of the police and justice,” the source also told the newspaper.

The case comes just over a month after an Iraqi man in a migrant reception centre in Greece threatened to set his wife and child on fire after learning that his asylum claim had been rejected for a second time.

There have been several similar domestic violence cases involving migrants and their spouses in recent years, some involving murder.

Last year, a 37-year-old Afghan migrant was arrested after stabbing his estranged wife to death on a bus in front of several witnesses in Obergünzburg, Germany. As in the case of Chahinez B., the man involved had a history of domestic abuse.

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com