French murder suspect awakes from coma after swallowing poison in courthouse
- Willy Bardon was on trial over the murder of Elodie Kulik in 2002
The suspect for the rape and murder of a young woman in northern France almost two decades ago was slowly emerging from a coma while under guard in hospital Saturday after he swallowed pesticide in an apparent suicide bid following his conviction.
Willy Bardon, on trial over the murder of Elodie Kulik in 2002 in a case that has attracted strong interest in France for years, ingested the substance at the courthouse in the northern city of Amiens late on Friday.
He is “progressively emerging from a coma” but is still in critical condition, prosecutor Alexandre de Bosschere told AFP.
“The product ingested … is a pesticide called Temik. It’s an extremely dangerous product … which affects the nervous and cardiovascular systems,” he said.
Bardon, 45, is under round-the-clock police surveillance in hospital.
