Two investigations for a case of aggression then revenge. A 16-year-old boy suspected of having sexually assaulted a 6-year-old girl in Roanne (Loire), on the night of Thursday October 20 to Friday October 21, was beaten up by the father of the latter the next day. On Sunday, the teenager was indicted for “sexual assault on a minor under the age of 15” and placed in pre-trial detention. And another investigation targeting in particular the father of the child, for “aggravated violence in a meeting and with the use of a weapon”, was opened by the public prosecutor of Roanne, Abdelkrim Grini. Here is what we know about this case.
A little girl sexually assaulted in her home
According to the story of the victim’s family, confirmed by the prosecutor to franceinfo, a young man broke into a pavilion in the Mayollet district, in the south of Roanne, on the night of Thursday October 20 to Friday October 21, around 3 o’clock in the morning. He went up to the 6-year-old girl’s bedroom on the first floor and sexually assaulted her, reports Abdelkrim Grini.
The mother of the victim, who was not sleeping because she was breastfeeding a baby, testified that she heard a noise in her daughter’s room. She says that she then came face to face with the young man. Panicked, she called her companion, but the intruder fled. Friday morning, the parents went to file a complaint before the police went to their home to make findings.
Suspect beaten by father
But the father then doubts the ability of the police to find the attacker. “The same evening, there was no patrol and no police patrol passed, there was nothing. Me, I felt that the person was not very far, she disappeared too quickly “, he explained to BFMTV on Tuesday. Helped by several friends and neighbors, he decides to establish a neighborhood watch, to try to identify the individual.
“During the night from Friday to Saturday, at 2 a.m., about 24 hours after the incident, a young boy who matched the description was spotted near the home by the little girl’s father and three of his friends”explains the public prosecutor of Roanne, Abdelkrim Grini, to franceinfo.
The small group masters it. The father then goes to see his companion, and presents her with a photo of the individual, on which she says she recognizes her daughter’s attacker. “He was wearing the same T-shirt, according to her”, says Abdelkrim Grini. The father then comes out of his house and beats the suspect with his three friends. “I shouldn’t have done it, but I don’t regret any case of having done it. (…) Fortunately there were my friends and I was a minimum lucid to call the police, otherwise he I may have gone further”recognized the father on BFMTV.
“I do not regret in any case”: the father who beat up a teenager suspected of having assaulted his daughter testifies on @BFMTV pic.twitter.com/X3gzQMkOz3
— BFMTV (@BFMTV) October 25, 2022
According to the prosecutor, the suspect notably “was whipped with an electric cable on the ground”. The four men eventually called the police, who took the teenager to hospital. “Without the intervention of the police on the spot, he could have been killed”, says Abdelkrim Grini to franceinfo. His injuries were assessed at 10 days of ITT.
The teenager indicted on Sunday
The teenager was taken into police custody, then indicted on Sunday for “sexual assault on a minor under the age of 15” and placed in pre-trial detention.
He disputes the facts, said his lawyer, Me Camille Thinon, at the Parisian : “It was dark. My client says he was never in this house, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time”. An isolated minor, he had been living for a fortnight in a specialized structure located a hundred meters from the home of the parents of the assaulted girl.
An investigation opened against the father
At the same time, the Roanne prosecutor opened an investigation on Sunday for “aggravated violence in a meeting and with the use of a weapon”, an electric cable, against the father and his friends. “The most serious offense concerns the 6-year-old girl, it is the priority. But I do not accept that we do justice ourselves, that it becomes personal revenge. The rule of law, it’s not that”, justifies the prosecutor to franceinfo. The lawyer for the stricken young man affirms to the ParisianTuesday, that he “will file a complaint”.
Eric Ciotti, deputy Les Républicains des Alpes-Maritimes, supported the father of the family. “Who can condemn the reaction of this father? Who can measure his fear, his pain? He should not protect his daughter, try that it does not happen again? (…) I will not condemn the father who protects her daughter”he said on BFMTV on Tuesday.