EXCLUSIVE. Françoise, 73, victim of “Cannibal of the Pyrenees”: “When I saw him, I knew he wanted to kill me”
Françoise, 73, was violently attacked in the middle of Toulouse last January by the “Cannibal of the Pyrenees”. She tells La Dépêche those moments when she thought she was going to die.
Sitting on the sofa in her living room, Françoise, 73, has sparkling eyes and a permanent smile. Ten months ago, however, she was in hospital in very serious condition after being attacked by the “Cannibal of the Pyrenees” in the middle of the street below her home in the Chalets district of Toulouse.
“I saw this guy come running, he has a stick above his head and I knew he wanted to kill me. He was hitting like crazy, remembers this former diplomat. The guy, I wouldn’t recognize it, but the stick does”. Françoise came down to walk her little dog Gaspard. It was dark. “I put my arms to protect my head. He kept hitting. That evening, the urge to kill took him”, assures the survivor whose arms still bear the scars of the violent attack. .
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Alone in the street, Françoise is certain that she is going to die. “I was very lucky. My neighbour, Florent, told me that he had heard such a terrible cry that he came out with a gun. He is my savior”. Several witnesses managed to control, not without difficulty, the 37-year-old man who attacked Françoise. She was taken to the hospital and suffered multiple broken arms. She has a skull injury. “At Purpan, the police came. They asked me if I knew who my attacker was. I said no. I was very lucky”.
“Paradoxically, it gave me the joy of living”
Jérémy Rimbaud, 37, had not returned to the Marchant hospital where he had been staying since a murder and a violent attack in the Hautes-Pyrénées. He was wanted wanted. “I was told that they thought he was better, remembers the retiree. He had accommodation outside, but had to come back. I didn’t understand everything…”
Françoise learned of the disagreement of the CGT with the decision to create a pole dedicated to security at the Marchant hospital. “I’m not happy and even shocked. It’s not an aberration to tighten security. It’s true that these are sick people, but there are very dangerous guys. What happened once can happen again for worse. I should be dead today, she analyzes. Why not make two sections, one open and one closed?”
After a long convalescence, Françoise’s life resumed its course with her faithful shih tzu Gaspard in this area of the Chalets that she loves so much. “I go around to get it out, but if someone runs or there’s a noise, I’m on the alert.” His cold encounter with “The cannibal of the Pyrenees” makes him know today “the warmth of mutual aid”: “Everyone is great, even people I don’t know!”
At 73, Françoise “tries to continue, not to live on what happened”: “Paradoxically, it gave me the joy of living. I benefit twice!”, She smiles, caressing Gaspard, her “dirty beast” loved against her.