As in previous years, summer has proven deadly for women in abusive relationships. The most recent femicide, the 55th in 2025 and the 11th since July 1, according to figures from the French collective Féminicides par compagnons ou ex (Femicide by current or former partners), took place the night of August 8-9 in Saint-Jouan-des-Guérets, a small town in Brittany, northwest France. As with many femicides, this one could likely have been prevented if warning signs had been taken more seriously.
The Saint-Malo prosecutor's office stated in a release on Wednesday, August 13, that Tatiana Mevel, age 36, who had separated from her partner at the beginning of July, had filed complaints twice in the weeks and days leading up to her murder. In her initial complaint, filed on July 18 at the police station and supplemented on August 7, she described how her former partner inundated her with messages and phone calls and regularly showed up at her home. This behavior was classified as harassment by a former partner.
The young woman filed another complaint on August 2, this time with the gendarmerie, as she "suspected her former partner of having damaged her vehicle," according to the release. The incident was then classified as a misdemeanor. The statement from the Saint-Malo prosecutor's office, which did not respond to requests for clarification from Le Monde, did not mention any protective measures being taken for the complainant. It simply noted that the young woman had told investigators that she had never been "the victim of physical, verbal or sexual violence, nor of death threats."
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