Mum begs accused murderer to ‘release’ French nanny who was ‘tortured, killed and thrown on a bonfire’
But employer Sabrina Kouider would not 'release' the 21-year-old until she 'told the truth' over a false conspiracy accusation
THE mother of a French nanny tortured, killed then thrown on a bonfire had begged her accused murderer to let her come home, a court heard.
But employer Sabrina Kouider, 35, told worried mum Catherine Devallonne, 49, she would not “release” Sophie Lionnet, 21, to return to France until she “told the truth” over an entirely false conspiracy accusation, the Old Bailey was told.
Mrs Devallonne said: ‘I begged her to let my daughter come back home, she told me she would do it as soon as my daughter told her where she had been.
‘She told me she thought of my daughter as her little sister, she wanted to protect her.
‘She would not tell me anything else.’ Speaking of Ms Lionnet’s departure for London, Mrs Devallonne said: ‘As for me, I was not so happy because she was going very far off.
‘For Sophie it seemed to be an adventure, she seemed very happy regarding this prospect.
‘My daughter was fragile and beautiful and I wanted to protect her.’ Mrs Devallonne also told police that Sophie was ‘naive’.
The court heard Ms Lionnet was forced to live and sleep at a desk in the £900,000 Southfields property, and that she was forbidden to leave the house until she ‘admitted’ conspiring with Walton.
Walton, who founded Boyzone while at school with Shane Lynch and later recruited Louis Walsh as manager, told the Old Bailey his relationship with Kouider was the ‘most turbulent’ he’d ever had, and she would often accuse him of abuse he never committed.
He claimed to have been in love with Kouider, who confessed to burning the body of her French nanny but denies murdering her.
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Ms Lionnet, from Troyes, north east France, had moved to the UK in 2016 to improve her English.
She was battered to death, suffering fractures to her sternum, four ribs and her jawbone.
Kouider and boyfriend Ouissem Medouni, 40, both of Wimbledon, deny murder but admit perverting the course of justice by burning the body.
The trial continues.