Catherine Mancel: A mother found guilty of her daughter’s ‘painful and merciless’ murder in Iceland

The murder of Catherine Mancel in a Reykjavík hotel last year was “committed in a painful and merciless manner” and without her consent, according to the Icelandic judges who found her mother, Dublin resident Ming Ting Mancel, guilty of the killing. They ruled that Catherine’s “implied consent” to die with her parents “was driven more by terror and helplessness” than by her own free will, and that this reality must have been clear to her mother. These conclusions were published in a 47-page court summary outlining their reasons for the guilty verdict and 12-year sentence handed down to Mancel on July 28th.Catherine Mancel was found dead at the Reykjavík Edition hotel in June of last year, along with her father, Emeric. Catherine had been stabbed twice, and an attempt at strangulation was made with a noose. The court found that Ming Ting Mancel acted in collaboration with her husband to kill their daughter in what she described as a planned family suicide. Mancel wanted to die with her family, but her husband’s attempt to pierce her heart had failed.The French family, originally from New Caledonia, had been living in Leopardstown for almost a decade. Emeric’s kidney failure and a summons served on the family by his sister prompted their decision to take their own lives in Iceland, said Mancel, with Catherine being given the choice to die with them. The court summary revealed that Emeric’s sister had accused him of embezzling €7 million from their parents’ estate and purchasing six apartments with the money. The summary cited an email to another sister, in which Emeric wrote he had neither “the strength nor the will” to answer the accusation and that “we intend to spare [Catherine] from having to endure this malicious creature”.READ MOREIn police documents referred to in the summary, Mancel had stated that they wanted to die quickly and easily, and that they thought the act would be easy to carry out, like in the movies, but that “it was so horrible, she suffered so much”. After Catherine’s death, her mother wiped her face and placed a teddy bear Catherine had made in her lap. In setting out their conclusions, the judges found that the defendant’s statement of events had been “inaccurate, extremely vague and limited”, and “must be taken with caution”. Mancel had “tried to downplay her role”, but the court considered her to have been equally involved in the crime and not under the influence of her husband. The judgment pointed to inconsistent statements immediately after the killings, with Mancel telling hotel staff and police at the scene that she had killed two people, before later saying her husband was responsible. The judges considered Mancel’s explanation that it was to get responders to react to the situation “illogical”. Catherine Mancel. Photograph: Linkedin The judges concluded that Mancel’s admission – “I am a monster” – in her first police interview indicates the incident did not occur in the non-violent manner she later reported. They also observed that Mancel remained silent for two and a half minutes when asked who had stabbed the victim, before blaming her husband, and said her unwillingness to provide a more detailed account of events “reduced her credibility”. In the court’s opinion, there was also a noticeable change in her posture and body language when she spoke about the noose used on Catherine. Much of the summary focused on Mancel’s claim that Catherine consented to her death. The defence had sought acquittal or a lesser sentence of three years, under a provision for homicide committed at the victim’s urgent request. However, the ruling stated that this applies only if the victim expressed an unequivocal and firm wish to die, on their own initiative and without external pressure. The court found nothing to indicate that the victim was contemplating ending her life. Catherine had discussed working in a management position, posted on her LinkedIn page and had been writing and sharing short stories on her phone until days before her death. She’d also shared pictures and videos of waterfalls and caves, which she said she’d had a lot of fun taking.[ ‘She hadn’t wanted to die’: How Dublin resident was convicted of daughter’s murder after family suicide pactOpens in new window ]Catherine had been asked many times if she wanted to die, according to her mother, but the judges found that, when questioned, Mancel was unable to describe these alleged conversations in a credible manner. She did not describe any feelings or thoughts about the crime, or any discussions about other options. The only evidence suggesting Catherine may have known what was planned was that she left her laptop and access card at work, along with gifts, the judgment stated. Even if Catherine had consented, the judges doubted that this reflected her own wishes and concluded that she surrendered to her parents’ will. Mancel had stated that she believed that Catherine dying with them was the right decision, and had admitted that Catherine usually came around to their way of thinking during family disagreements. The judges found that her parents did not give any thought to how their daughter could continue life without them, did not offer her any other realistic options or encourage her to do otherwise and said Catherine “was placed in an extremely difficult position”. They found that Catherine’s wish to die with her parents stemmed primarily from a lifelong fear of being left alone and that “implied consent in such circumstances has no significant value”. Catherine Mancel (left) with her father Emeric Mancel (centre) at a Japanese fencing competition in Australia. Photograph: Les Nouvelles Calédoniennes When asked how Catherine reacted to her father using a knife, Mancel said that “she let it happen, she didn’t complain”. The judges said this suggested that she didn’t have the strength to resist her parents and the act was carried out with indifference to the victim. They also noted that the defendant could not explain why Catherine was wearing a sleep mask when she died.Ultimately, the judges found that Ming Ting Mancel had “failed to demonstrate Catherine’s consent, let alone an urgent request for it”. The verdict also included comments on the handling of the case by the police and prosecution. They noted that information received by police from Catherine’s Dublin workplace was not examined until the second day of the trial, and observed that Emeric and Catherine’s phones and tablet were not actually investigated until the trial, despite containing information relevant to the case.