'It was a time bomb': Angel-guided throat-slitting and rapist backpacker set loose

The backpacker traveled the roads by train between Barcelona and Italy, often in Occitania. MIDI LIBRE – DR/Y.P.

José Palencia, a marginalized and schizophrenic Spaniard, had massacred André, 80, and Nathalie, 56, at their home in Villeneuve-lès-Maguelone (Hérault) in December 2022. If criminal irresponsibility is acquired, his chaotic journey as a delinquent raises questions.

“Yes, I'm fine, I'm receiving medical treatment. I have become aware of the crime I committed, I ask the victims for forgiveness.”

The high-pitched voice of José Palencia, 40, is now soothed when, from the medical unit of the Albi prison (Tarn), he answers by videoconference the questions of the liberty judge (JLD) responsible for extending his incarceration, this December 6.

Far from the whirlwind of criminal madness that took him two years ago in Villeneuve-lès-Maguelone (Hérault) where he slit the throat and killed André, 80, retired from the SNCF, and his daughter-in-law Nathalie, a 56-year-old hairdresser.

He slits the throat, kills, mutilates and rapes

Raping the fifty-year-old several times, cutting off one of the octogenarian's ears and filming part of this barbarity with a phone. He tested positive for cocaine and cannabis.

Could this terrible double homicide have been avoided? ? The question arises in light of the journey of this backpacker left in the wild despite his significant psychiatric disorders until his encounter with the two victims he did not know.

André and Nathalie were preparing to drink an end-of-week aperitif, white wine and chips, on December 16, 2022, at their home, in this house of horror located near the Villeneuve-lès-Maguelone train station. José Palencia was wandering there after being fined and thrown off a train by the controllers, for the 109th time in two years.

Guided by God and the angels, in search of gold, he smashed the window with a stick before throwing himself on the terrified victims.

“God wanted them to go up to heaven and I was looking for gold”

“The angels spoke to me and pushed me, the demons entered me and I made André go up, if there were two of them it was because God wanted them to go up to heaven, she was a friend of his. I was looking for the crown of the King of Italy, I was looking for the gold that they stole”, he told investigators.

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Illustration of his mental illness, schizophrenia and “a megalomaniacal and mystical delusional state” indicated the experts, opening the way to an indisputable criminal irresponsibility.

“He understands what he did”: the criminal irresponsibility of the acquired killer

A first psychiatrist, then three other experts confirmed it: in a delirious state, José Palencia was not responsible for his actions at the time of the crimes. The investigating judge is about to close the case and declare criminal irresponsibility, which will be validated before the investigating chamber.

“He understands what he did, he is aware that he needs medical care, the medication helps to calm him down, but his explanations of the facts are unreal and mystical and attest to his criminal irresponsibility” adds his lawyer, Majid Diab.

“I had a spiritual awakening, God was speaking to me and he appeared to me in Perpignan and that's why I went to Italy” the Catalan from Barcelona told the JLD.

Already arrested in Narbonne for theft and violence

His background traced by the police shows that he was sentenced there to a significant prison term of 8 years for burglaries and violence, while he quickly became marginalized with a penchant for drugs and alcohol. Once a glazier or mason, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia at the age of 23, receiving an adult disability allowance.

Then he began to travel frantically, by train, between Spain and Italy, stopping in Montpellier or Argelès-sur-Mer where he committed a burglary a few months before the events.

But it was mainly in Narbonne that he struck in 2021 and 2022: sexual exhibition, violence, threats, racist anti-Islamist remarks of which he was accustomed, theft with assault… A psychiatrist then already judged him “dangerous”, he was hospitalized for a month and a half then released in April 2022. Under medication but without follow-up…

“Everyone knew he was dangerous”

“Everyone knew he was very dangerous, he was a time bomb. At any moment he could stop his treatment and commit these atrocious acts and he is released into the wild, it is difficult to accept”, storms Me Marc Gallix, the lawyer of Nathalie's sister, pointing out the lack of suitable structures in prison or psychiatric hospital.

“The question of the State's responsibility arises” also accuse Mes Jacques Martin and Guillaume Raymond, in the interests of André's family.

“He found himself wandering, released for lack of anything better, lack of space… The family is devastated by telling herself that it could have been avoided, even if she remains dignified, in sadness and resignation.”

Not to mention that another ordeal awaits the families: that of being deprived of a real trial, criminal irresponsibility leading to a dismissal and forced hospitalization.

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