“It’s been 25 years. The truth has not arrived yet. We must end this story, for me, for my mother, for Irish people.”
Sophie Toscan du Plantier’s son Pierre Louis Baudey-Vignaud has made a fresh appeal to the Irish public for information about his mother’s murder.
The brutal murder, which took place in the town of Schull in West Cork in 1996, triggered one of the biggest murder investigations Ireland has ever seen and became a national obsession.
Baudey-Vignaud said on Friday night’s The Late Late Show: “It’s been 25 years. The truth has not arrived yet. We must end this story, for me, for my mother, for Irish people.
“Irish people, you have a murderer still living in Ireland.
“Thanks to the very recent films of Netflix and of Jim Sheridan, there is a sort of revolt of the people. They want to know. They want a trial. They want to understand. They want answers.
“This very little part of Ireland must find peace again.”
In 2019, a French Court convicted Ian Bailey of her murder but he was not present for the trial after winning a legal battle against extradition.
Ireland did not extradite Bailey due to a Supreme Court ruling in 2012 that the Irish extraterritorial provision was not the equivalent of the French legislation and therefore they were not reciprocal.
Bailey has never been charged in connection with the case in Ireland and he has maintained his innocence.
Asked about this, Baudey-Vignaud defended the French justice system’s decision to convict Bailey of Ms Toscan du Plantier’s murder in absentia.
He also urged the Director of Public Prosecutions to reconsider the decision not to charge Bailey.
“I’m not saying that he is guilty. The French said he is guilty,” Baudey-Vignaud told Ryan Tubridy.
“When you see all the files, I really think that Ireland must go to a trial soon.
“The elements of the files are unambiguous.”
A clip of the interview with Baudey-Vignaud is available to watch below. The full interview can be watched on the RTÉ Player.
Those with information about Ms Toscan du Plantier’s murder can contact any Garda station or call the Garda confidential line on 1800 666 111.
Clip via The Late Late Show
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