Man charged with murder of young mother in southern France

Police crime scene tape is pictured - File Image.

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A man suspected of fatally shooting a woman a dozen times in her car while her baby sat in the passenger seat was charged with murder on Sunday, French prosecutors said.

Lizabete, a 23-year-old woman identified only by her first name, was shot dead on Wednesday, and her death has triggered an outpouring of grief in the southern French city of Nice.

Her seven-month-old baby was in the vehicle with her when a man on a scooter pulled up and repeatedly shot her at point-blank range. The infant survived the attack without injuries.

The main suspect behind the murder is believed to be Lizabete’s stepmother’s former partner.

The 45-year-old man, who was born in Portugal, has been placed in pre-trial detention and charged with murder, prosecutor Damien Martinelli said in a statement.

He had been taken into police custody several days before Wednesday’s murder for aggravated assault on his ex-partner, and ordered by a court not to approach the woman.

After Lizabete’s death, he was arrested again early Saturday afternoon on the outskirts of Grasse, a town around 40 kilometres (25 miles) west of Nice.

The murder took place at an intersection near a high school in the west of the city. Firefighters rushed to the scene but were unable to revive her.

Her daughter, Ayla, was strapped into a baby chair in the passenger seat next to her.

Nice city hall held a vigil for Lizabete on Friday, with the city pledging to grant her daughter ward-of-the-state status as a way to support her throughout adolescence.