The son of murdered French film producer, Sophie Toscan du Plantier, has appealed to anyone with information about her killing to contact gardaí, not just for the sake of her family but “for all the women” who are living in Ireland.
Pierre Louis Baudey-Vignaud (40) said he was convinced there were people in Ireland who had information that could assist gardaí to bring to justice his mother’s killer.
“It’s been 25 years, the truth has not arrived yet – we must end this story – for me, for my mother, for Irish people … You, the Irish people, you have a murderer living in Ireland,” Mr Baudey-Vignaud told Ryan Tubridy on The Late Late Show on Friday.
Mr Tubridy invited Mr Baudey-Vignaud, who was only 15 years old when his mother was beaten to death outside her holiday home in Toormore near Schull in West Cork on December 23rd 1996, to issue an appeal to the Irish people for information about his mother’s killer.
“My mother was found dead with the complete body destroyed ... Her face was … destroyed by stones. She was almost naked in the land, with scratches on the face and on the body,” he said.
“Please for you, for me, for my mother, for the justice – for all the women who are living in this country, we must end this – please call me, send me an email or go to the gardaí, for sure, you [who] know something.”
He also he urged the Director of Public Prosecutions to reconsider the decision not to charge Ian Bailey with his mother’s murder.
Mr Baudey-Vignaud defended the decision of the French justice system to convict Mr Bailey (64) in his absence in Paris in May 2019 and sentence him to 25 years in jail for the killing. The Irish courts have refused to extradite the former journalist to France to serve the sentence.
“The verdict in France was very powerful because they said Ian Bailey is guilty and must go to jail for 25 years … I’m not saying he is guilty, the French is saying he is guilty and when you see all the files, I think Ireland … must go to a trial soon, the elements of the files are unambiguous.”
Mr Bailey, who was twice arrested by gardaí for questioning about Ms Toscan du Plantier’s murder but released without charge on each occasion, has repeatedly denied any involvement or connection with the killing of the French film producer.
