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🇫🇷 France /Crime & Justice

30-year sentence for murder of young woman caught in Guyana drug ring

From Le Figaro · () French

Translated from French, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Outcome reported
  • Dane Langhorne was sentenced to 30 years in prison for the 2021 murder of Alicia Faye in French Guiana.
  • Faye was involved in a cocaine trafficking operation between France and French Guiana and was killed shortly after arriving.
  • Langhorne, tried in absentia, is a fugitive and subject to an international arrest warrant.

A court in Cayenne, French Guiana, has sentenced Dane Langhorne to 30 years in prison for the 2021 murder of Alicia Faye. Faye, a 25-year-old from Bordeaux, France, was killed just 24 hours after arriving in Cayenne, having been drawn into a cocaine trafficking scheme between France's Gironde region and French Guiana.

His guilt is established.

— Gisèle AugusteThe Advocate General's statement on the evidence against Dane Langhorne.

Faye was carrying 25,000 euros intended for a local supplier when she was shot in the head. Langhorne, who was the last person seen with Faye, was tried in absentia after being released in 2024 due to a procedural error and subsequently fled to Guyana. Evidence presented in court included traces of Faye's blood found in Langhorne's car and on his shoe, establishing his guilt, according to the Advocate General.

Langhorne's partner was also convicted and sentenced to six years in prison for aggravated theft. She was found guilty of stealing Faye's belongings from her hotel room the day after the murder, including her suitcase and money.

Your daughter was shot cowardly with a bullet behind the head, even among us criminals we don't do that in the street. Nobody deserves to die for 20,000 euros.

— Flaviano MakkaiSpeaking to the victim's father after being acquitted of complicity in the murder.

Flaviano Makkai, considered the head of the cocaine trafficking network, was acquitted of complicity in the murder. Addressing Faye's father, Makkai stated, "Your daughter was shot cowardly with a bullet behind the head, even among us criminals we don't do that in the street. Nobody deserves to die for 20,000 euros."

I will never forgive, we have received life sentences, but I do not have hatred either.

— Bernard FayeThe victim's father expressing his feelings after the trial.

Bernard Faye, Alicia's father and the only family member present at the trial, expressed his enduring pain but also a lack of hatred. "I will never forgive, we have received life sentences, but I do not have hatred either," he told AFP. The family's lawyer noted the frustration that the full truth of what happened that night in March 2021 remains elusive, despite the conviction.

There is frustration for Mr. Faye because the truth, we do not have it.

— Me Michael BeulqueThe family's lawyer commenting on the incomplete understanding of the events.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Le Figaro in French. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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