FRENCH MURDER TRIAL

Evening Star, Issue 19520, 30 March 1927, Page 5

FRENCH MURDER TRIAL

CSfIBSE AGAINST DOCTOR

rniAStATIC KVIDEN'CE

Trcw Association—By Telegraph—Copyright

PARIS, March 28. Dramatic 1 evidence in defence of Bougrat followed the declarations of convicted criminals, including thieves and the wife of a murderer whom Bougrat met in prison, that he suborned them to prepare alibis One witness alleged that Bougrat confessed that he murdered Rumehe by pressing on his fa.co a handkerchief soaked in prussic acid. , , . , Dr Barral, professor «l toxicology, gave evidence that a peat mortem op ilumcho nroved that ho was not poisoned. Death must have been due to a therapeutic accident after an injection of nrsono-bcnzol, which a doctor was entitled to use. , Dr Besgrea, a chemical expert, agreed that a doctor, faced with a patients death of such a nature with others waiting in the ante-room, might lose his bend and resort to concealment. A colonel gave evidence of Dr, uougrat’s bravery in succoring the wounded in “No Man’s Land ” t 5

[A, message from Pans on March 22 stated: Sensational charges are made against Dr Boimrat, whose trial has opened at Marseilles. It is alleged that ho murdered a patient named Jacques Rumehe in his surgery, locked the corpse in a secret cupboard, and assured the widow that the victim was alive and well. Enormous crowds besieged the court. With him in the clock was his mistress, Mile Andrea Audibort, for whom the doctor divorced hir wife, and for whose sake it is alleged he committed the crimes. Bougrat. who is thirty-two. holds the Croix do Guerre and is a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. He and Rumehe had been comrades together in war time. Lattcrlv Rumehe had been under treatment, and when lie mysteriously disappeared it was known that ho had £doo in his possession. Three mouths afterwards his remains were discovered. The police, who visited Bougrat’s surgery to execute a warrant tor a senes of cheque frauds, were overpowered by the unbearable stench. They investigated, and found the corpse. The prosecution alleges an amazing record of cases where girls visiting the surgery have been drugged and robbed of their money and jewellery. Inquiries are proceeding into the deaths of several former patients of Bougrat, following the discovery of over-large quantities of poison in his surgery. The doctor denied the charges; hut he admitted that since he was divorced he had led a debauched life, frequenting low establishments.]