Infanticide in Eure: two school principals indicted for not denouncing ill-treatment

Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credits: LOU BENOIST / AFP 16:55 p.m., January 15, 2024

Two school principals in Conches-en-Ouche in the Eure department have been indicted for failing to denounce the ill-treatment of a 3-year-old girl, who died at the end of September after alleged violence by her mother and stepfather, and her older brother. "On December 7, the director of the kindergarten where the little girl was attending and the director of the primary school where her older brother (6 years old), who was also a victim of abuse, were taken into custody at the request of the investigating judge," the public prosecutor of Evreux told AFP. Rémi Coutin. "They were indicted for not denouncing ill-treatment of a minor under the age of 15" and placed under judicial supervision, he said.

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Lack of "time" to make a report

At the end of September, the girl's mother and stepfather had already been indicted for the murder of a minor and imprisoned for these acts. The girl had died after arriving at Rouen University Hospital in the middle of the night on September 24, despite the intervention of emergency services at the family home in Conches-en-Ouche. She had multiple bruises of different ages on "her face, all four limbs, her chest, her back, her pubis," Coutin said at the time.

"Neither the gendarmerie, nor the judiciary, nor the child welfare services had been informed" of the "violence that was difficult to bear" suffered by the little girl, the magistrate said. "We considered, with the investigating judge, that there was enough evidence to indict" the two school principals concerned, the Evreux prosecutor said on Monday.

"The headmistress admitted in police custody that she had told herself that she had to make a report but that she did not do so, in particular because she did not have the time. The director, on the other hand, denies responsibility," he added. They each face a five-year prison sentence and a fine of 75,000 euros. Contacted by AFP, the Normandy rectorate confirmed "that the two civil servants are suspended. An administrative inquiry will be carried out by the rectorate when the judicial investigation is sufficiently advanced."

School principals' union 'outraged'

"We are outraged," said Thierry Pajot, general secretary of the union of school principals in the National Education system (S2dé, a minority union). "They want to make us bear all the evils of the earth. What about the gendarmerie crew who showed up at the home one day? What about the neighbors who knew? What about social services? What about the previous schools where the children were educated?" he asks. "From now on, as soon as a child has a bruise, we will make an immediate comeback. We're going to flood social services and prosecutors to cover us," he said.

The purpose of the judicial inquiry is not only to clarify the respective responsibilities of the victim's mother and stepfather, but also of third parties who may have been aware of the violence suffered by the children and failed to report it. A friend of the couple had "seen the child several days before the events and wanted to make a report to 119" but "this call would not have been successful" due to a lack of operators, Coutin said at a press conference a few days after the events.

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"We are in a drama of isolation"

The prosecutor had recounted how "in a rather despicable but classic mechanism of this type of violence, the couple" justified this violence, which began in the winter of 2022/2023, by explaining "that the girl injured herself during tantrums and falls".

The 29-year-old stepfather, who had no profession, later admitted that he had already engaged in "shoving, strangulation to the point of convulsion and several loss of consciousness of the child". The 27-year-old mother, who is also unemployed, admitted to "slapping" her daughter. "We are in a drama of isolation, poor housing, addiction. They lived in total destitution," said Jérôme Pasco, mayor of this Normandy town of 5,000 inhabitants, in September.