The third day of the trial of a Dublin -based French woman accused of killing her 29-year-old daughter in an Icelandic hotel room heard the deceased, Catherine Mancel, was “not independent” and was “very close to her parents”.
The observation was made by defendant Ming Ting Mancel’s sister, Yen Ting, who gave evidence on Thursday via video link from France.
Ming Ting Mancel is accused of, and denies, murdering her daughter Catherine in collaboration with her deceased husband Emeric Mancel.
The family had travelled to Reykjavik in June last year, supposedly for a final holiday before carrying out a suicide pact together. The bodies of Catherine and Emeric were found a week later at the luxury Reykjavik Edition Hotel on June 14th, 2025.
Ming Ting Mancel admitted at the scene that she had killed her husband and daughter, but later changed her statement and now pleads not guilty, saying her husband carried out the killings.
Yen Ting testified that the last time that she saw Catherine was in the summer of 2018. She described her niece as “quite shy”, and said she did not speak a lot.
She said she did not seem to have any developmental difficulties and was capable of normal conversation.
“But she was a bit fragile,” she acknowledged. When the subject of moving away from home had come up, Catherine had said she was happy living with her parents and did not want to move out.
She also stated that it had been many years since her sister Ming Ting had been in France, saying that she and her sister kept in touch using the WeChat app. She recalled the two most recent occasions when her sister had come to France with her family – the first about 16 years ago and the second in 2018.
She spoke of contact she had had with her sister on Wednesday, June 11th last year, the last time they had exchanged messages.
[ ‘I killed two people’: Dublin-based family murder trial hears evidence from first policeman on scene Opens in new window ]
Speaking in French, Yen Ting told the court that Ming Ting sent her a WeChat message to say only that she was going to receive a package soon. “That was her last message.”
Yen Ting recalled how she had been worried by the message. It was very short, she said and had not seemed like her sister’s usual messages.
She sent two messages in reply but did not have her mobile number to give her a call.
Yen Ting received this package five days later – two days after her niece and brother-in-law’s bodies were discovered at the Icelandic hotel. In it were souvenirs from Iceland as well as jewellery belonging to Ming Ting Mancel – specifically, a ring.
On June 18th Yen Ting received her niece’s will by post.
Earlier, a medical examiner detailed how Catherine Mancel may have struggled to get free from an attempt to strangle her before she died. Marks on her neck showed she may have tried to break free of the noose, he told Reykjavik district court.
Catherine also had two stab wounds, the second of which wounded her in the heart and eventually killed her, he said. The examiner added that the attempt at strangulation most likely occurred before the second stabbing.
On Friday, Ming Ting Mancel had explained how her daughter Catherine had wanted to die with her parents, but that being stabbed had not been her preferred method. However, her parents had been unable to think of a “more certain” way.
In the district prosecutor’s indictment, Ming Ting Mancel is accused of holding her daughter down along with her husband, and tying a noose around her neck to stop her breathing. They are also charged with stabbing her twice.
Ming Ting Mancel has claimed that she held her daughter’s hand while her husband stabbed her on a chair in the bathroom, and that they later moved her to the bed where he stabbed her again.
The trial is set to continue on Wednesday.
Read the full article at The Irish Times →
Ireland