A 40-year-old migrant with an existing deportation order has been arrested for an “attempted poisoning,” with French prosecutors alleging that she poured household cleaning agents into a number of the family’s drinks. The woman has already confessed to the crime, according to investigators.
The woman, Leila Y., remains in pre-trial detention in Versailles. Prosecutors say she was performing childcare for a family in Levallois-Perret when she reportedly poured a household multi-purpose cleaning product into bottles of wine and at least one bottle of grape juice.
“Analyses are still in progress,” a source close to the case told French newspaper Le Parisien.
Ultimately, neither the parents nor the children consumed any of the drinks; however, the family first became suspicious when they uncorked a bottle of wine and were immediately confronted with a very strange taste. They immediately suspected the nanny, as she was the only addition to the family since September.
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“It was undrinkable anyway. All you had to do was dip your lips in it to know that something was wrong,’ said the source.
The parents, who have children aged 3, 5 and 7, went to the police with their suspicions. The police then arrested Leila Y. and took her in for questioning.
She told the police that she poured the cleaning fluid into their drinks to “teach them a lesson” because they did not appreciate her “true value.” She said she only targeted the parents but did not want to harm the children, despite allegedly spiking the family’s grape juice. A pay dispute served as the motive, as she had asked the family for a raise, and they had declined to give her one.
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However, she is also now being prosecuted for providing “false administrative documents” to obtain employment. Authorities indicate that she is actually an illegal immigrant with a deportation order (OQTF).
Leila Y.’s lawyer is attempting to reclassify her poisoning attempt as an “administration of harmful substances,” which would allow her to escape prosecution in a criminal court.
