IVORY COAST: VERONIQUE AKOBE, SENTENCED TO TWENTY YEARS AFTER KILLING HER EMPLOYER IN SELF DEFENCE, RETURNS HOME AND THANKS HER SUPPORTERS FOR HER EARLY RELEASE

Record ID: 183455

  • Title: IVORY COAST: VERONIQUE AKOBE, SENTENCED TO TWENTY YEARS AFTER KILLING HER EMPLOYER IN SELF DEFENCE, RETURNS HOME AND THANKS HER SUPPORTERS FOR HER EARLY RELEASE
  • Date: 21st August 1996
  • Summary: ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST (AUGUST 21, 1996) (REUTERS TELEVISION - ACCESS ALL) 1.CU SUPPORTER WEARING T-SHIRT WITH PICTURE OF VERONIQUE KOBE 0.4 2.GV SUPPORTERS CLAPPING IN MEETING HALL 0.13 3.GV VERONIQUE AKOBE SIGNING POSTER 0.19 4.CU POSTER PULL BACK TO VERONIQUE AKOBE 0.32 6.SVS PAUL ARNAUD, PRESIDENT OF VERONIQUE AKO
  • Embargoed: 5th September 1996 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST
  • City:
  • Country: AFRICA ASIA UAE Ivory Coast MIDDLE EAST
  • Reuters ID: LVABV9ZVD7X2VIUDYR6RP4I0NN1I
  • Story Text: Veronique Akobe, Africa's version of reprieved Filipina maid Sarah Balabagan, returned home to Ivory Coast with a quiet thank you for those who supported her -- and a plea to be allowed to forget and get on with her life "I am not a hero, I was a victim and I reacted... I am not a star, or a personality," said the shy and unassuming 32-year-old, who like Balabagan killed to defend her honour.

    "I have committed an act which was very regrettable, I have paid (for it) and I believe I have paid enough. I do not want to use this misfortune to become a star." Akobe, like Balabagan one of millions of Third World women and men who take menial jobs abroad to escape poverty, was addressing a news conference on August 21,her first formal public appearance at home after a hitherto discreet homecoming.

    Her only other public appearance, with her mother and members of her family, was later that day at a mass of thanksgiving at a Roman Catholic church in Ivory Coast's commercial capital Abdijan.

    Akobe, who went to work in France as a maid, was jailed in 1990 for 20 years for killing her employer's son, and attempted murder of her employer. She accused both men of raping her.

    France, unlike the United Arab Emirates where Balabagan was convicted, no longer has the death penalty. The prosecution cited extenuating circumstances and recommended a maximum of 15 years jail but a jury sentenced Akobe to 20 years.

    Following the Balabagan case, Akobe's case became something of a cause celebre in Ivory Coast, which won independence from France in 1960. A support committee grew up and lobbied, both at home and in France, for her release.

    Women's and rights groups in France took up the case. French President Jacques Chirac finally agreed to pardon Akobe in July during an extended stay in France by Ivorian President Henri Konan Bedie.

    Akobe had spent nine years in jail, some before sentencing.

    Veronique, seemed overawed and embarrassed by the spotlight that had been thrust upon her.

    Her homecoming was low-key. No fanfare, no ecstatic airport welcome. "Veronique Akobe... is currently paying a discreet visit to our country," the support committee said in a statement, announcing the news conference and mass.

    Akobe told journalists that when she first arrived she was afraid to go out, overwhelmed. "I felt a stranger in my own country," she said.

    Veronique, whose father is dead but whose mother lives in Bedie's home town Daoukro, said that she would have been happier remaining silent. "But how could I not say thank you to all those who supported me during my misfortune," she said.

    She listed Bedie and Balabagan -- "my sister in suffering, thanks to (whose plight) my case received special attention." Millions of migrants from the third world, particularly South East Asia, the Indian sub-continent and Africa, flee poverty at home to take up low-paid jobs abroad.

    Some leave home with false papers to work as maids or in clubs and bars, in Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Some find new lives, often marrying foreigners. Many find menial jobs.

    Unscrupulous employers abuse them sexually or otherwise and Owmetimes force them into prostitution. Many are trapped, unable to scrape together the fare home.

    Balabagan and Akobe have been more fortunate than some.

    Flor Contemplacion, a mother of four, was hanged in Singapore in 1995 for a double murder -- a fellow maid and the son of that maid's employer. But the scars of Akobe's experience remain. She blames racism and bias against women but she, at least, seems on course for a happy ending.

    She and philospophy teacher Jean-Jacques Le Dehevat, a Frenchman who was her prison instructor, fell in love and married.

    It remains to be seen whether they settle in Ivory Coast or in France.


  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register