A man who confessed to the murder of an eight-year-old girl tried to take his own life on Wednesday night, according to news channel BFM TV.

"/> A man who confessed to the murder of an eight-year-old girl tried to take his own life on Wednesday night, according to news channel BFM TV.

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Child murder suspect attempts suicide

A man who confessed to the murder of an eight-year-old girl tried to take his own life on Wednesday night, according to news channel BFM TV.

Published: 10 November 2011 09:02 CET

The young girl, Océane, went missing on Saturday evening after going to visit a friend in the southern village of Bellegarde, close to Nîmes.

Her body was found in a nearby vineyard on Sunday morning after an extensive search involving police and 300 volunteers.

She had been sexually molested before being suffocated and had also been stabbed four times.

The 25-year-old local man, named Nicolas, walked into the village police station oon Tuesday evening saying he couldn’t remember what he had been doing on Saturday evening. He claimed he was drunk and had “blacked out” and asked police to run DNA tests.

Test results confirmed that traces of DNA found on the body of the girl matched the man, named only as Nicolas.

Local newspaper Midi Libre reported on Thursday that the man met Océane as she returned home from a neighbour’s house on Saturday evening.

He offered to give her a lift back to her parents’ home but instead drove her out of the village where he killed her.

BFM TV reported on Thursday morning that the man, a father of three children, had tried to commit suicide while in custody on Wednesday night.

3,000 people, including the parents of Océane, marched through the village on Wednesday in the girl’s memory.

“We will never forget Océane,” said the girl’s father. “We hope that something this awful never happens again to a child.”

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French parliament to investigate sexual abuse in cinema

The Assemblée nationale unanimously agreed to set up the commission demanded by actor Judith Godreche in a speech to the upper house, the Senate, in February.

The 52-year-old actor and director has become a key figure in France’s MeToo movement since accusing directors Benoit Jacquot and Jacques Doillon of sexually assaulting her when she was a teenager. Both have denied the allegations.

All 52 lawmakers present for the vote on Thursday approved the creation of the commission, watched by Godreche, who was present in the public gallery in the chamber.

“It’s time to stop laying out the red carpet for abusers,” said Greens lawmaker Francesca Pasquini.

The new commission is to look into “the condition of minors in the various sectors of cinema, television, theatre, fashion and advertising”, as well as that of adults working in them, it said.

On the basis of Godreche’s proposal, a parliamentary commission on culture decided to extend the scope of the inquiry to also include other cultural sectors.

It is to “identify the mechanisms and failings that allow these potential abuses and violences”, “establish responsibilities” and make recommendations.

The parliament vote comes a day after actor Isild Le Besco, 41, said in an autobiography she was also raped by Jacquot during a relationship that started when she was 16, but was not ready to press charges.

Godreche, by contrast, has filed a legal complaint against the prominent arthouse director, over alleged abuse that occurred during a relationship that began when she was 14 and he was 25 years her senior.

She has also formally accused Doillon of abusing her as a 15-year-old actress in a film he directed.

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