Old Bailey
Couple accused of murdering French nanny 'had sex as she lay dead in bed nearby'
Sabrina Kouider, 35, claims she cried when she and her partner, Ouissem Medouni, had sex shortly after killing Sophie Lionnet at their Wimbledon home
Emily Pennink
Sabrina Kouider and Ouissem Medouni deny murder (Image: Central News)
A couple accused of murdering their French nanny 'had sex as she lay dead in bed nearby', a court has heard.
Sabrina Kouider, 35, told an Old Bailey jury that she cried when she and her partner, Ouissem Medouni, had sex shortly after killing Sophie Lionnet at their £900,000 flat in Wimbledon, south west London.
Both deny murder - but admit perverting the course of justice by burning the body - and both blame each other for the 21-year-old's death in September last year.
The pair accused Miss Lionnet of plotting against them with Mark Walton - a founding member of Boyzone who used to date Kouider.
After the body was found on a bonfire in their garden, Kouider said she lied to police on Medouni's instructions.
Sophie Lionnet, 21, from Troyes, France, was found in the garden of the £900,000 Wimbledon home (Image: Facebook)
Victim Sophie Lionnet was described as 'vulnerable' in court (Image: Twitter)
Ouissem Medouni (left) and Sabrina Kouider (right) deny murder (Image: Julia Quenzler / SWNS.com)
Under cross-examination, Kouider said: "Everything I done (sic), I did it for him.
"He wanted to have sex with me. I'm even shocked to talk about it, it's embarrassing."
Orlando Pownall QC, for Medouni, asserted: "You suggesting Mr Medouni was insistent on having sex with you when Sophie was lying dead in the bed is nonsense."
Kouider replied: "I said 'What are you doing?' When he finished he said he was so stressed."
Asked if she was alleging rape, she said: "I was shocked. I was not myself. I didn't say 'Don't do that' but I was crying while he was doing that."
Mr Pownall said: "I suggest it is a figment if your imagination."
Kouider replied: "It's not my imagination, it's the truth."
Sabrina Kouider, 35, said it is "embarrassing" that she and co-accused Medouni had sex after the nanny's death (Image: Facebook)
Sabrina Kouider is accused of murdering the vulnerable French nanny at her home in Wimbledon
The lawyer suggested the defendants' cases were "mirror images" of each other.
He said: "You say Mr Medouni had never shown any violence towards her (Miss Lionnet) prior to September 18 and on that evening he was violent.
"His defence is almost the mirror image of yours. He says you were the one that had been violent and were violent in the early hours of the 19th."
Kouider said: "I reject that. I was not violent."
Mr Pownall went on: "If one was looking at the two mirror images, would you agree there is an important difference between you and him? First, over many years you have made false accusations against a number of people."
Kouider said: "I never made a false accusation against anybody."
Koudier denies murder and is standing trial at the Old Bailey (Image: Joe Alvarez)
The lawyer said: "Secondly, over a number of years you have shown bad temper and violence towards a number of people.
"The further difference - you always blame somebody else for your problems."
Kouider denied it.
Mr Pownall referred to a diagnosis in May 2017 of depression and borderline personality disorder.
Kouider admitted she had not been "well" but added: "I don't know where you are getting this information."
Kouider and Medouni, 40, have admitted perverting the course of justice but deny murder.
Mr Pownall told Kouider: "You make up dreadful stories about people, often of a sexual nature.
"You confuse dreams with reality and you have violent mood swings.
"You can suddenly become aggressive. You do pick on the weak and exploit them."
The defendant replied: "That's not true. I'm not crazy. I'm not losing my mind."
Pop mogul Mark Walton used to date murder accused Sabrina Kouider (Image: Facebook)
The barrister suggested she had even lied by denying suicide attempts and incidents of self-harm when she was younger.
He read doctors' notes detailing how she had jumped from a fourth-floor balcony on her 18th birthday and drank cleaning fluid after breaking up with her fiance when she was 20.
Mr Pownall suggested that, contrary to what Kouider had told jurors, Medouni was delighted to be "punching above his weight" with her.
She was the one who was "ashamed" of their relationship, telling people he was her cousin or brother, he said.
Kouider was so "fiercely jealous, possessive and controlling" that she once set fire to curtains, he added.
The defendant denied it, blaming a candle for what happened.