A Dutch pensioner, Dirk Raats is charged with murdering Solaine Thornton, who was killed after being shot in the heart during a family barbecue in their garden in the village of Saint-Herbot in Brittany.
The 71-year-old is also charged with attempting to murder her parents Adrian and Rachael Thornton, who were seriously injured.
The father was shot in the head and is in a coma while the mother was hit in the head and the back.
Solaine had been playing on the swings with her eight-year-old sister Celeste, who managed to escape unscathed and get help.
He and the Thorntons, who are originally from Oldham, were in a long-running argument over their connecting land.
The attack followed a three-year dispute over noise and a plot of land in the hamlet of Saint-Herbot, in Brittany, according to the region’s mayor.
Mr Thornton had begun clearing vegetation and detritus from his land, formerly the site of a sawmill – drawing the ire of the neighbouring couple known locally as ‘the Belgians’, although prosecutors say they had Dutch nationality.
With the neighbours also bothered by the noise of Mr Thornton’s chainsaw and by the fact their house was now visible from the road, the town hall initially stepped in to mediate the dispute.
Appearing in court in Brest on Monday evening, Raats said: ‘It’s so horrible what happened – I don’t understand it.’
Prosecutors said Raats had been drinking and taking drugs when he opened fire on Saturday.
Prosecutor Camille Miansoni said: ‘It appears that he clearly aimed at the father, that he aimed at his wife, but however he seems less clear as to a possible admission that he aimed at the girl.’
Mrs Thornton had previously said they were threatened by a gun-wielding neighbour years prior when her family cut a hedge down.
Mr Miansoni said works on the hedge ‘exasperated’ Raats ‘who later took a loaded .22 calibre rifle and fired three or four shots, hitting three victims’.
Celeste managed to flee to another neighbour and said: ‘My sister is dead, my sister is dead.’
She is said to be in a state of shock.
Police searched Raats’ home and found two rifles, one of which had not been declared.
He and his partner tested positive for alcohol and cannabis but prosecutors said they do not have any previous convictions.
Anne Guillerme, Raats’ defence barrister, suggested he could have psychiatric problems.
Mr Miansoni said a mental health assessment had not flagged anything notable.
The Thorntons moved to Saint Herbot in 2019 and they were the only British family in the area.
They were well-liked and would open up their grounds for the hamlet’s festival in September.
Their home is based in a large plot. Mr Thornton works as a mechanic while Mrs Thornton is in social services.
Mr Thornton had been working on tidying and clearing the land, which was said to have otherwise been abandoned and was wild.
The mayor of Plonevez-du-Faou, Marguerite Bleuzen, said she had to intervene over ‘tensions’ three years ago but had not needed to wade in since then.
She was only told after the shooting there had been more problems.
‘On one occasion, I was told that the Dutch man brought out a weapon. I wish I or the police had been told, and this might have been avoided,’ he said.
The 11-year-old’s grandfather, Irvin Thornton, said police arrived at his house on Sunday night to break the news of his granddaughter’s death.
‘We don’t know exactly what has gone on,’ he told DailyMail.
‘We didn’t know anything about a dispute. How can a 71-year-old man shoot a little girl?”
‘There might have been dispute over land but you do not do that. She didn’t stand a chance.
‘And in front of her sister. How is she going to get over that? It will live with her forever.’
Raats is now facing murder and attempted murder charges.
Police also discovered a large amount of cannabis, during a search of the Dutch national’s home.
The court heard tonight that Raats had worked as a photographer, shepherd and carer for the handicapped before retiring to France some five years ago.
Anne Guillerme, his defence barrister, said he had ‘no criminal record’ and may have psychiatric problems.
Raats was remanded in custody following the charges, and could spend the rest of his life in prison if found guilty at trial.
A neighbour described him as a ‘little guy with long white hair, a long beard, and completely wild-looking’.
