PETAH TIKVA (Israel), Dec 7: The trial on murder charges of the mother and grandfather of little French girl Rose whose remains were fished out of a Tel Aviv river opened on Sunday in a nearby Petah Tikva court.

Israeli taxi driver Ronny Ron, 45, and Marie-Charlotte Renaud — his lover and former daughter in law — have been indicted for the murder of four-year-old Rose, whose killing has stirred outrage in Israel.

“The defendants, both or one of them, placed Rose in the suitcase, after her death or shortly beforehand,” the indictment said, charging that the killing was a joint and premeditated act.

“Ron then took the case holding the child’s body and dumped it in the Yarkon River. The defendants’ deliberate actions caused the child’s death,” according to the indictment. The court adjourned further hearings for a month at the request of defence lawyers, who said they had not yet studied all documents in the case.

Rose’s remains were found in a suitcase in the murky river near Tel Aviv on September 11 after weeks of intensive searches and speculation about a murder that shocked Israel.

According to the results of a post-mortem, Rose was killed by one or several blows to the head. Ron had told police that in a momentary outburst of violence he hit the girl who kept crying as he was driving. Realising she was dead, he stuffed her body into a suitcase which he then hurled into the river.

Renaud, the girl’s mother, has denied any involvement, according to Revital Swid, the lawyer for both her and Ron.

“I love my daughter and I know that she could not have done this,” Renaud’s mother Isabelle Deshayes told reporters outside the court.

The defence is expected to argue a case of accidental death. Under Israeli law, premeditated murder carries a life prison term.

Rose’s parents moved to Israel in 2004, but divorced the following year after her father, Benjamin Pizem, discovered Renaud was having an affair with his father.

Rose’s father then moved back to France but her mother stayed behind with Ron and obtained custody of her. Ron and Renaud now have two children of their own.

The court documents alleged that the family had trouble integrating Rose, that Renaud had threatened “suicide” if the girl remained with them and that the family sent her to live with Ron’s mother sometime in March. On May 12, the day of Rose’s disappearance, Ron went to pick up Rose from his mother’s house. As he left, Renaud “screamed and cried” and asked him not to bring Rose back, according to the documents.

Police suspect the murder was committed in May, but the girl’s disappearance was brought to their attention only last month when her great-grandmother contacted welfare authorities.—AFP