Sophie is at the center of this story.
But it's true that for 23 years,
it's often forgotten, uh, who my sister was.
Nine a.m. in early winter.
It is still dark on the Mizen Head peninsula.
Georges and Marguerite Bouniol, Sophie Toscan du Plantier's parents,
wanted to share a service with locals from this corner of Ireland
which she loved so much.
For a few days, a light's been on in this house
that's long been lost in the countryside,
where exactly one year ago today,
the body of Sophie Toscan du Plantier was discovered.
I was immediately very protected after my mother died.
I didn't meet the police, French or Irish.
I didn't meet the journalists.
I was… very far from all that.
I was a little boy, uh…
simply a victim.
For days,
then weeks, months,
the police told the family
that the end was very close.
It was really round the corner.
The Garda never stopped adding things to the case file.
But we didn't know much about all that.
We were still all in a very emotional state.
Then in early January,
once again the Garda told the family
that it was going to be resolved soon.
-Con, what's the story? -I don't know. I wish I did.
I spoke to Jules when I arrived in the morning.
I went to her house, to their house,
because we were friends.
And I asked her,
"Do you think
Ian could be guilty?"
She said, "I don't know."
Someone called me saying,
"Tonight, Marie-Madeleine, I'll have good news for you."
And then that night, there was no good news.
The DPP had said no.
We were dumbfounded, all of us.
Uh, It was very difficult for my parents.
In Ireland, the family of the victim doesn't exist.
The Garda leads their inquiry
and subsequently gives the case…
to the director of public prosecution, the DPP.
What does he do? He reads through the dossier,
and it's him that decides whether to prosecute or not to prosecute.
If there is not enough proof,
not enough evidence,
then he will not prosecute.
If you'll excuse me saying, I think,
at times,
that Bailey had Ireland by the balls.
With his partner, he responded to our questions
and protested his innocence.
We're not sure who is benefiting from these lies about us.
But what I know is that the police have tried to pass me off as the murderer,
as well as my partner, Jules.
We really have nothing to do with it.
Previously, we didn't have access to the Irish file.
What was extraordinary was that all the witnesses who had been interviewed
came forward during this trial to say the same thing.
They weren't the ones telling lies.
Marie Farrell is a central character
because she saw Bailey on the night of the murder
at Kealfadda Bridge.
She was a pivotal witness.
It was evident
that Bailey seemed even more guilty than before.
But nothing happened.
Since my mom's death,
I've been lucky enough to put a big barrier
between… between me and this story.
But, uh, time moves on. Uh…
So now it's been 23 years,
there have been two phases.
The phase
where I was, uh…
the child who's suffering,
crying, grieving,
and then the phase
where I enter the fight.
The association is extremely important for me and for the search for truth.
Every month, whatever is going on in everyone's lives,
we meet.
It was founded by my grandma's brother.
We were very confident. The Irish police, the Garda,
were going to solve the problem. "We'd found the killer."
Then, obviously, it didn't work out like that.
At that point, I started saying to my sister,
"We're stuck. We could wait years. Nothing is being done."
And so we created the association in 2007.
What's going on?
Have you lost weight?
I didn't know anything about criminal law.
I learned about the differences between the legal systems.
Is it possible to convict in absentia in Ireland?
After the 2003 libel trial,
we have all the witness accounts. Everything for the first time.
And it was the beginning of the legal fight in France
for truth and justice
for Sophie.
All those who knew Mom, uh, knew she was a fighter,
and, uh, I… I…
I am going to try and be a fighter.
One thing is for sure.
Bailey will not escape justice his whole life.
We created the association in September 2007,
and the French investigation began in 2008.
Our family's great regret is that we didn't put an end to the pressure
that Bailey exerted on Marie Farrell.
For many years,
she lived in the same village as Bailey, in Schull,
and she was put under enormous pressure.
The case swung, and Ian Bailey started to bounce back.
Big mistakes from the beginning,
from the crime scene that wasn't preserved.
People could walk over it.
When a French citizen is murdered abroad,
France has the right to carry out its own inquiry
and after that to prosecute
the suspect.
Did you know Sophie Toscan du Plantier?
When Sophie died, it was such a shock.
As a result, I closed all the doors.
I didn't read, listen to, or watch anything.
I didn't want to know anything.
The memory only came back because we created the association,
so it was a long time afterwards.
It's one of those curious workings of the memory.
"A man who wrote poems" flooded back into my mind.
It may have been the first night she was in Ireland.
A few days before my birthday, she called me,
and we talked about everything,
about her life, her husband, her work, what she'd done that day.
At a moment in the conversation where she was telling me about her work,
she told me about this man.
This man wanted to meet her to talk about a project
around poetry,
and she found him strange.
She found him a bit worrying as a character.
I said, "Don't see him alone. See him in a public place."
This story extremely affected me, really.
It profoundly affected me.
It was the evening before her departure.
I thought she was talking about a Breton director
who had a similar-sounding name.
So I said to her, "Oh yes, I know him. I've seen this film, that film."
She said, "No, you can't know him."
"Ian Bailey lives next door to me in Cork."
She told me that he earned a living as a writer,
that is to say he's a journalist or a poet,
and he was interested in stories of domestic violence.
Sophie knew Bailey. Bailey knew Sophie.
The second element is Bailey's confessions.
Bailey's confession to Malachi Reed, to different people,
"I did it. I did it"
The third element is Bailey's timetable during the night of the murder.
He himself confessed that he went out on the night of the murder.
So no alibi for Bailey.
The other point is, of course,
the scratches and the mark on the forehead.
We had a trial that we'd waited for for 22, 23 years.
Just before the trial in France,
I wanted to go to Ireland with my uncle, Bertrand,
to explain what was happening
to the local community.
And why it was important for them
that I was fighting
for justice for my mother,
to clear their land's name.
So it's a text that I read out in the church.
I have fought like a dog for years.
I've suffered for years.
My conviction for the past 15 years
is that everything points to Bailey.
Everything, everything, everything shows that it's Bailey.
There's no question.
I won't let it go.
I won't leave him alone.
I went to the trial, and I was questioned as a witness.
It was very difficult to go through, very intimidating.
I had to say that Sophie had spoken to me about this man.
That's what was important.
I think that my witness statement,
with all the other witness statements, were useful for the outcome of the trial.
For the first time,
it was people on the outside of the subject who were judging.
Everything we imagined, all of our hypotheses
laid out by the judges, who are objective and professional.
After 22 years of waiting,
22 years of suffering,
22 years of questions,
the judges convicted Ian Bailey,
who killed my mother over 22 years ago,
to 25 years in prison.
Mr. Bailey was guilty.
It's clear. Uh… He killed her.
The judge said it.
It's a verdict. It's the first verdict,
and I don't see how Ireland could refuse the extradition.
Now justice must be done.
I don't know.
If Bailey continues to slip through the net,
I assure you I will make sure the net comes down on Bailey.
He was convicted in France. Now I don't understand
how this man is walking around in Ireland.
Can you explain to me why this man is free?
I've seen Bailey at least twice.
He recognized me one time.
He's convinced himself of his story,
but…
I have no empathy. None.
Just the feeling of having seen a void.
Nothingness.
What bothers me is that he hasn't confessed.
You would feel that justice had been done if he confessed though?
Right.
Marguerite is convinced it's him.
But would it bring peace?
You don't get justice with the death of your daughter.
The house in Ireland, for me, is the only place
I would go with my mother and where I continue to go today.
It's like going to see her.
It's like going to stay with her every time.
It doesn't work.
Mom is very present in this house.
Look how white the hail is.
She is very present.