/ 8 February 2011

French couple attempted suicide

French fugitive Philippe Meniére shot his wife Agnes Jardel dead and then turned the gun on himself, the Hawks said on Tuesday referring to the couple who killed a policeman and injured another in Sutherland.

“As police approached, the man shot his wife twice in the head and then shot himself in the temple,” spokesperson McIntosh Polela said.

“The man was injured but not dead … there was a shoot-out and the police shot the man in his stomach and his legs and he died.”

Meniére (60) and Jardel (55) were on the run for six days following the shooting of Constable Jacob Boleme on January 14 at the farmhouse they occupied near Sutherland. The farm’s owner called the police after he had tried unsuccessfully to evict the couple from his house.

Earlier, French consul Antoine Michon was quoted as saying that the police had given the couple a chance to surrender.

“We were told they were offered terms to surrender … I was told by a senior official,” Michon told the Star.

“We have no reason to believe the police did not act professionally.” – Sapa