Beloved Priest Murdered in Francophone Parish in Berlin
Father Alain-Florent Gandoulou, the head of the Catholic French-Speaking community, was murdered in his office around midnight.
Late on February 22nd, police responded to a call from witnesses reporting a loud argument in French in the parish office in Berlin-Charlottenburg. They said 54-year-old Fr. Gandoulou, originally from the Congo, sustained fatal injuries after being beaten with a metal cross and stabbed in the head with an umbrella tip.
The following day, a 26-year-old man from Cameroon was arrested in connection with the murder and was detained in a psychiatric ward. Police did not release the suspect’s name, and no motive was reported. Media in the Congo called the murder a politically motivated "assassination."
On February 25th, shocked mourners from the Paroisse Catholique Francophone attended funeral rites Sunday for Fr. Gandoulou in the city's St Thomas Aquinas church.
In November 2018, the defendant confessed to the murder, but blamed it on “hearing voices urging him to confront the priest.” In January 2019, the district court acquitted him due to an acute psychotic disorder and ordered him placed indefinitely at a psychiatric hospital.
Sources: Katholisch.de, DW, Vatican News, Bild, and Brazza News