Islamic terrorist, 25, who took a selfie moments before he killed three worshippers in a deadly rampage at a French cathedral is jailed for life
An Islamic terrorist who took a selfie before murdering three worshippers in a cathedral in the south of France will spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Brahim Aouissaoui, 25, was found guilty on Wednesday of using a knife to carry out the horrific killings in Nice on October 29, 2020.
The Tunisian national had arrived in Europe just three weeks earlier as an illegal migrant.
And chillingly, Aouissaoui sent a selfie to friends back in Tunisia to show off the new clothes he had bought with money working illegally in Europe.
The image was taken at a shop in France the day before he walked into the church in the centre of Nice armed with two knives and intent on murder.
One of Aouissaoui's victims, Nadine Devillers, was a 60-year-old woman who was 'almost decapitated,' according to prosecutors.
During a trial in the Riviera city, Aouissaoui said he had carried out the attacks in revenge for 'the West killing innocent Muslims', but he could not remember exactly what happened.
His other victims were Simone Barreto Silva, a 44-year-old Franco-Brazilian mother, and Vincent Loques, 55, a father of two daughters.
Brahim Aouissaoui, 25, took this image at a shop in France the day before he walked into the church in the centre of Nice armed with two knives and intent on murder
Nice terror attack victim Nadine Devillers, 60, was 'almost decapitated'
A woman cries as she speaks to reporters in front of the Notre Dame church in Nice
The killer is pictured wearing a white t-shirt claiming to 'love life' outside his family's humble home near Sfax
All were stabbed repeatedly by Aouissaoui with a kitchen knife.
The 25-year-old was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Wednesday - the most severe punishment possible under French law.
It normally means a minimum of 30 years in a cell, usually in solitary confinement.
A professional jury made up of magistrates convicted Aouissaoui after prosecutors said he was 'consumed by Jihadi ideology'.
Speaking of the selfie Aoussaoui took before the attack, his brother Yassin, 38, said: 'He bought new clothes and a mobile phone in France with the money he had earned working harvesting olives in Italy.
'He was very proud of his new clothes and wanted to show us he was doing well.
'Brahim said he wanted to go to Europe to earn money to buy a car.'
He added: 'He made a lot of phone calls the night before the attack. He called us, the family and his friends.
'He spent hours on the phone reassuring us that everything was fine. He said he had met an Arab man who was helping him to get on his feet in France.'
Aouissaoui was shot repeatedly by police after the attack, but survived, and has been held in custody since.
He had arrived in Italy on an illegal route from Tunisia, and then travelled to France overland.
He entered the Basilica of Notre-Dame of the Assumption, in the centre of Nice, carrying a copy of the Koran, three knives and two mobile phones, according to prosecutors.
Simone Barreto Silva, a 44-year-old Brazil-born mother of three was one of the victims of the attack on a church in Nice
VICTIM: Brazilian-born Simone Barreto Silva, 44, succumbed to her injuries after seeking refuge in a nearby burger bar. Her last words were to paramedics, who she told: 'Tell my children that I love them'
Simone Barreto Silva, a 44-year-old Brazil-born mother of three, was one of the victims of the attack on a church in Nice
Brahim's father Mohamed and his brother Yassine pictured outside the family home
Vincent Loques, 54, a sacristan of the Notre Dame basilica in the city of Nice, was brutally killed as he prepared for the first Mass of the day
Married Nadine Devillers, 60, was the first person attacked by Aoussaoui. He slit her throat near the baptismal font.
Next, he hacked 54-year-old sacristan Vincent Loques to death as he prepared for the first Mass of the day.
Brazilian-born Simone Barreto Silva, 44, was then stabbed multiple times but managed to escape the church, running to a nearby burger bar where she succumbed to her injuries.
The mother-of-three's last words to paramedics were: 'Tell my children that I love them'.
Aouissaoui, who had worked as motorcycle mechanic in the Tunisian city of Sfax, was a heavy drinker, and regular cannabis smoker.
The last sentence of this type was given to Salah Abdeslam, another Islamist terrorist, who was involved in the November 2015 attacks on Paris, in which 130 people were murdered.
Earlier in 2015, two Paris-born gunmen linked to Al-Qaeda broke into the offices of the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine, leaving 17 people dead inside and three outside.
In July 2016, 86 people were killed and more than 400 injured when a 19-ton truck was deliberately driven into crowds on the seafront promenade at Nice.
During the same month, two Isis terrorists murdered an 86-year-old Catholic priest during a church service in Normandy.
And, in October 2020, three people were stabbed to death by a Tunisian immigrant in the Notre Dame basilica in Nice.
Terrorists have also targeted teachers, such as Samuel Paty, who was decapitated in the greater Paris suburb of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine in 2020.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14440735/Islamic-terrorist-selfie-killed-three-worshippers-jailed.html
![His mother Gamra, 61, revealed: 'Brahim did start praying and taking his religion more seriously a few months ago but he was not in contact with Salafists [Islamic extremists]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/11/01/10/35104896-8902211-image-a-73_1604227888526.jpg)
His mother Gamra, 61
KILLER'S MOTHER: the mother of Nice attacker Brahim Aouissaoui who killed three people in the terror attack, cries at her home in Tunisia after being questioned by counter-terrorism police
Brahim's brother Yassine shows the picture he has of his brother
Brahim's brother Yassine. His brother Yassin, 38, said: 'He bought new clothes and a mobile phone in France with the money he had earned working harvesting olives in Italy'
Brahim's father Mohamed and his brother Yassine pictured outside the family home
Brahim Aoussaoui, the 21-year-old Tunisian migrant, receives medical treatment after killing three worshippers
In a little over six weeks, Aoussaoui travelled from Tunisia, into Italy via Lampedusa, was taken to the mainland, and released by Italian authorities under deportation order. From there, he caught a train to Paris, where he stayed for a little over two weeks, before going to Nice and launching his attack
Nice terrorist Brahim Aoussaoui is seen in a photograph taken at the Italian port city of Bari, where he disembarked from a coronavirus quarantine ship on October 8 - marking his arrival in mainland Europe
Another image of Aouissaoui is held by his mother in the Tunisian province of Sfax, where she revealed that she had begged her son not to travel to France
Muslim demonstrators shout slogans as they tear a poster of French President Emmanuel Macron during a protest and call for the boycott of French products
Muslims take part in a protest calling for the boycott of French products in Dhaka, Bangladesh
Muslims shout slogans against French President Emmanuel Macron
Muslims chant slogans as they take part in a protest calling for the boycott of French products in Dhaka
An effigy depicting the French president Emmanuel Macron is seen as Muslims chant slogans denouncing him during a protest in Dhaka, Bangladesh
Muslims burn an effigy depicting French President Emmanuel Macron as they take part in a protest calling for the boycott of French products in Bangladesh
Muslims hold pictures of the French president Emmanuel Macron in Dhaka, Bangladesh
