Mother jailed for claiming to be Paris terror attack victim to gain compensation

A married mother was beginning a prison sentence in France on Tuesday after pretending to have been wounded during the Paris terrorist attacks to win compensation.

Laura Ouandjli, 24, said “what I did was unacceptable” and was in floods of tears after being convicted at a criminal court in Versailles.

She admitted lying about being in the Carillon bar, where 15 people were murdered by Islamic State terrorists on November 13 last year.

It was part of a wider attack on the city in which a total of 130 victims died, either because of automatic gunfire or suicide bombs.

The court heard how Ouandjli was pregnant when she turned up at a police station in the suburb of Mureaux in December with her arm in a sling.he said she was “still in shock and seriously wounded”, having been “blown up by an explosion” while standing on the Carillon’s terrace.

Officers were immediately suspicious because the terrorists at the Carillon only used Kalashnikov rifles.

During a short investigation by anti-terrorist police who uncovered “more inconsistencies”, Ouandjli was charged with attempted fraud.

After being sentenced to a year in prison Ouandjli said: 

“I apologise to police, judges, lawyers, civil parties, and victims.“The real victims suffered enormously and I played this for money. It was stupid and child. When I became aware of the facts, it was too late.”
“It took a click, the birth of my daughter to change me. After today, the court will not hear from me again.”

Ouandjli, who was also ordered to pay a symbolic one euro in damages to a fund for terrorist victims, had a baby in May, and said she was struggling financially. 

Culled from the Evening Standard