A 59 year old man has admitted to strangling his 17 year old son inside the family's apartment on Nice's boulevard de la Madeleine on Monday, Nice's public prosecutor confirmed Wednesday, saying the father told investigators he carried out the killing to take revenge on his wife, who had left him that same morning.
Police were alerted around 3.30pm when the father called them himself to report that he had killed his son. RAID special forces forced entry to the apartment on rue des Étoiles, off the boulevard, and found the teenager already dead. The father was taken to Pasteur hospital with life-threatening injuries after what investigators believe was an attempt to take his own life following the killing.
According to police sources cited by France 3 Côte d'Azur, the boy's mother received a photograph from her former partner showing their son's body, sent shortly after the killing. A neighbourhood inquiry found no witnesses had heard any disturbance from the apartment.
The investigation remains ongoing, with the prosecutor's office expected to detail formal charges once the father's condition allows him to be questioned further.