French woman hospitalised after eyes stabbed by partner

PARIS: A French woman was on Monday fighting for her life in hospital after her long-term partner stabbed both eyes in an apparent bid to kill her, prosecutors said.

The man was arrested but has himself now been hospitalised due to his psychological state, they added. The victim is in critical condition after the suspect repeatedly stabbed her on Sunday in the town of Maisons-Alfort to the southeast of Paris.

Police arrested the suspect on Sunday afternoon, but released him "as a result of the forced hospitalisation", said the public prosecutor’s department in the Paris suburb of Creteil. The alleged perpetrator, around 40 years old, was not known to the police. The couple have four children, who were not present at the time of the attack.

There has been mounting concern about femicides in France with 102 women killed by their current or former partners in 2020 and 146 in 2019, according to France’s Interior Ministry.