Fabienne Kabou

Fabienne Kabou (born 14 June 1977) is a Senegalese–French woman who was convicted of the murder of her 15-month-old daughter, Adélaïde, on 19 November 2013.

She had given birth in secret and raised the child alone in Paris. Apparently mentally ill, Kabou traveled to Berck with the intention of drowning the child and left her on a beach at night. The girl was found dead the next day. Kabou was quickly arrested. She was convicted of murder and sentenced to 20 years in prison after a trial in June 2016.

The trial inspired the feature film Saint Omer (2022), written and directed by Alice Diop.

Events

Fabienne Kabou was born into a wealthy Senegalese Catholic family in Dakar on 14 June 1977. Her father worked as a translator for the United Nations, her mother as a secretary.

In 1995, she moved to France to study architecture. After two years, she changed to philosophy, and was writing a thesis on Wittgenstein.

Having experienced hallucinations and other mental conditions for years, Kabou spent €40,000 euros seeking help from "witchdoctors and healers" before the murder.

On 19 November 2013, Kabou took Adélaïde by train to the coastal town of Berck-sur-Mer, where she checked into a hotel room. She laid her almost asleep daughter down in the tide, hugged her for some minutes while asking for forgiveness, and then ran from the beach. Fishermen discovered the child's drowned body on the shore the next morning. Psychiatrists determined that Kabou was fit to stand trial despite suffering from "paranoid delirium". The film, Saint Omer, premiered in 2022 at the Venice International Film Festival to positive reviews. It received an award for best debut film, and also the Silver Lion Jury Award. Guslagie Malanda, who played the role based on Kabou, found being in character so taxing that she had nightmares for a year afterward. Diop fainted on set when the shooting wrapped.