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A 43-year-old mother from Martigues, near Marseille, died after what her family and lawyers describe as a chain of “catastrophic failings” by French emergency services. The woman, identified as Sylvia Iannello, succumbed to internal bleeding hours after being violently kicked in the stomach by her partner, Samir M., during an argument on the night of Aug. 2.
Despite making nine calls to France’s emergency services between 2:30 a.m. and 6:00 a.m., Sylvia was denied help and told by dispatchers to “take a taxi” or “see a psychiatrist.”
According to Le Figaro, emergency responders initially visited her home after she reported being assaulted, but when Sylvia refused to be taken to the hospital — saying she wished to file a complaint the next day — the team left. Within hours, her condition deteriorated sharply due to a ruptured spleen and massive internal bleeding.
Recordings obtained by investigators from the Marseille Territorial Crime Division reveal that when Sylvia called again for help, a dispatcher accused her of “joking” and told her “to think about it first.” Another operator reportedly told her, “We came once, do you think we’re taxis?” A doctor on the line suggested she was having psychiatric problems and dismissed her symptoms. Sylvia’s final words were faint: “I’m exhausted, I can’t get up.” She was later found dead on her balcony by a neighbor.
“I can’t find the words. It’s unimaginable,” her father, Pierre, told Le Figaro. “My daughter would still be alive if the emergency services had done their job seriously.”
Sylvia’s family has filed a criminal complaint for “failure to assist a person in danger,” a charge now under investigation by prosecutors in Aix-en-Provence. Her father, mother, and brother say both firefighters and medical responders ignored clear signs of life-threatening trauma. “They are lifesavers, not people who kill people,” her mother, Angèle Formoso, said.
“This failure to provide assistance probably deprived Sylvia Iannello of a chance of survival and contributed to her death in particularly sordid and unacceptable circumstances,” said lawyer Julien Plouton, representing the family.
Samir M. was arrested days later and charged with “violence resulting in death without intent to cause it.” He was initially hospitalized in a psychiatric facility before being placed in pre-trial detention.
Sylvia’s father revealed how his daughter had met Samir around 18 months ago, and abusive behavior was apparent from the outset.
“Two or three times, my daughter called me in the middle of the night to tell me that he didn’t want to leave her house. I told her that she had to leave him, that she shouldn’t let him come back to her house, but I think she was in love with him,” he said, as cited by BFMTV.
The father recounted his first time meeting Samir. “From the start, I found him strange. He drank a lot. I told my daughter I didn’t trust him,” he said, adding that his daughter’s new partner had a problem with both alcohol and drugs.
No media outlet has published any further information regarding Samir — a typical Arabic name — opting not to disclose his immigration status or country of origin.
A crowdfunding campaign has been launched by Sylvia’s relatives to support her two children and pursue legal action against those they believe failed her.
