French prosecutors request life for man who burned wife alive

French prosecutors on Friday requested that a man who burned his 31-year-old wife alive be sentenced to life imprisonment, with a mandatory minimum sentence of 22 years.

In 2021, the French-Algerian man stalked his Algerian-born wife Chahinez Daoud following their separation, buying a van he parked outside her house near Bordeaux in southwestern France, which he used to watch her.

On May 4 of that year, Mounir Boutaa, now 48, shot the mother of three in both legs, poured petrol on her and set her on fire.

In the eyes of the accused, "Chahinez was not to exist anymore, neither for him nor for others; she was not to have a face or a body, but to be nothing but dust," said prosecutor Cecile Kauffman.

It was a "murderous determination to exterminate," which has "profoundly affected our entire society," Kauffman told the court in Bordeaux.

The accused, described as "paranoid" with "narcissistic traits" by several experts, "undoubtedly has impaired judgment," she said. 

However she argued against any leniency and demanded he be sentenced to life in prison, insisting he was dangerous.

"When he is frustrated, he sees only one recourse: extermination," said Kauffman, adding that Chahinez Daoud "showed extraordinary courage" in asking for the separation.

She also requested that the man be stripped of parental authority.

Boutaa, a builder, had been released from prison at the end of 2020 after serving time for choking his wife and threatening her with a knife.

He had already been accused of domestic violence against a previous partner.

He denied any intention to kill his wife, saying he had wanted instead to "punish her", burn her "a little" and make sure she would "keep marks". 

"It wasn't me, it was my body, not my mind," he said. 

"Of course I regret it," he said on Thursday. "I loved her." 

A neighbour hearing the screams when Boutaa set the woman on fire tried to intervene but it was too late. When Daoud's body was recovered, it was completely charred. 

Boutaa, who filmed part of the horrific scene, was arrested shortly afterwards.