ATTACK ON DE GAULLE

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30348, 25 January 1964, Page 5

ATTACK ON DE GAULLE

Gaol Terms Imposed A.-Reuter—Copyright) PARIS, January 23. Jean Bichon, ringleader of a plot to shoot President de Gaulle last February, was given a 20-year gaol term today. Madame Paule Roussoulet, 56, the “pipe-smoking countess” was given 18 years and Captain Robert Poinard 15 years. Before being sentenced, Bichon, who is 50, told the court: “The days of the regime are numbered.’’ The three were alleged to have planned to shoot the French President with a rifle equipped with telescopic sights as he toured the Paris Military College. Police acting on a tip-off foiled the attempt. Madame Roussoulet who called herself the Countess de Liffiac and preferred a pipe to cigarettes, was alleged to have recruited Poinard, in whose home the rifle was found. Poinard maintain, ed he used the rifle for shooting elephants and had no intention of using it in an assassination. When the sentences were handed down Poinard’s 32-year-old wife, Jeanette, shouted: “Murderers, murderers. You are going to answer to my children,” she said. The court-room crowd began to sing the “Marseillaise" in support of the accused.

Grass Fire.— A unit from the Sydenham fire station answered a call to a grass fire at 22 Ombersley terrace, Opaiwa, owned by Mr G. Good, at 3.19 p.m. yesterday. There was no damage.