Two identical twins on trial for murder in France have complicated the case against them, with investigators unable to determine which brother fired a weapon found at the scene as they share the same DNA.
The 33-year-old brothers, currently on trial near Paris, are among five accused of an alleged double-murder and multiple subsequent attempted killings in 2020.
Both brothers are alleged to have been involved in planning the killings, but DNA recovered from an assault rifle used in a later gun battle could only be traced to one of them, with forensic experts unable to determine which brother it belonged to.
Local police told newspaper Le Parisien that investigators could not distinguish between the two suspects, with one investigator telling the court that "only their mother can tell them apart".
Police alleged that the brothers deliberately exploited their identical appearance, frequently swapping clothes, phones and identification documents to evade identification.
Investigators said this made it harder to track the twins' individual movements during and after their alleged crimes, and instead relied on phone data, CCTV footage and witness accounts to place together their whereabouts.
Identical twins develop from a single fertilised egg that splits during early pregnancy and share an exact same genetic profile, making forensic identification difficult.
The trial remained ongoing, with the court expected to deliver a verdict later this month.
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