Toulouse: Accused of murder at 15 and 16, the suspects return to the scene of the crime
Lucas was 18 years old. He died on May 22 a few hours after being stabbed by a friend. Indicted, witness, investigating judge and lawyers returned to the scene of the tragedy, this Thursday, January 19 in the Jolimont district of Toulouse.
In freezing cold, and despite the strike movement against the pension reform, almost no one was missing (an expert could not travel for lack of a plane) this Thursday morning January 19 to participate in the reconstruction of the murder by Lucas. This boy with a wide smile was 18 when, at the end of the afternoon on Sunday May 22, in the small apartment on rue Ortet, in Toulouse, two boys landed.
Acquaintances who came that day with the intention of fighting it out. The fight was violent and quick. A 15-year-old boy suffered a single, deep stab wound to the chest. Despite the intervention of the Samu, then the emergency evacuation of the victim to Rangueil hospital, this boy from Brazil, “a little light” according to one of his friends, did not survive.
Two friends turned adversaries
This case shook the middle of childcare in Haute-Garonne, whose educators knew the main suspect and the victim well. Placed in the same establishment, they were even very good friends, and together multiplied the 400 blows. Before everything changes. A love affair precipitated this friendship into tragedy.
Described as impulsive, easily brawling and violent, the main suspect, now 16 years old, offered since his arrest and his imprisonment, a different profile from the petty criminal who played tough. “He makes real efforts to participate in the investigation, and describes his involvement honestly,” notes his lawyer, Me Emmanuelle Franck. She defended it with Me Alexandre Martin and they translated alongside her on Thursday morning. “This reconstruction allowed this boy to re-explain how it happened. His statements correspond to the material findings,” insist his defenders.
For the defense, the young boy never wanted to kill his opponent. “Avenge his ego, perhaps, the violent but not kill him”, say Mes Franck and Martin. However, the author of the fatal blow, like the other 16-year-old boy who accompanies him, landed in the accommodation, knife in hand. And a young girl who found herself with the victim on the Sunday of the tragedy, a civil party, reaffirmed before the judge that several times the main suspect yelled: “I’m going to kill you!”
“Justice for Lucas”
In the small apartment, the accounts of the two indicted and the witness of the drama diverged “on certain details, in particular the chronology and the place of the fatal blow”, warns Me Jessica Guy. But for the 21-year-old witness present during the fatal violence, who considered herself Lucas’ “best friend”, this delicate reconstitution to face was also “important”. “Because she had the feeling of participating in the work of justice, explains Mr. Guy. For her, it is very important that justice be rendered to Lucas”.
After this reconstitution, the open instruction for “murder” is approaching its closure. The judgment in the juvenile court ruling in criminal matters could take place before the end of the year.