Evaëlle, 11, committed suicide in June 2019 after several months of bullying at school -
Photo provided by the family
On June 21, 2019, Evaëlle, an 11-year-old college student, a victim of school harassment, hanged herself at her home in Herblay, in Val-d'Oise.
Her French teacher and three college students were indicted for harassment.
Two of the three college students remained silent, the third admitted insults and a slap while downplaying his role.
In front of the examining magistrate, two of the three college students preferred to remain silent.
A., he decided to talk.
The 13-year-old even considers his summons to a few days of Christmas "fair".
"I still gave him a slap," he admits bluntly during this hearing to which
20 Minutes
had access.
Like his two comrades, he was indicted for “harassment”, a year and a half after the suicide of 11-year-old Evaëlle, found hanged in her house in Herblay, in Val-d'Oise.
An unprecedented fact in such a case: their French teacher, suspected of having maintained this deleterious climate, was also indicted for the harassment of Evaëlle and three other students.
To understand this matter, we must place ourselves at children's level, remember that what could appear like trifles in the eyes of adults, occupied our days and our thoughts.
From CM2, Evaëlle's teacher notes that this precocious child suffers the regular teasing of a small group of boys, in the first row of whom A. “We never suspected anything, she never told us about it, confides his mother, Marie.
Even in college, when the situation got worse, we didn't notice any change in her behavior, she was happy to go.
"
"Every day, bring her down"
Because from the start of year 6, the spiral of harassment intensifies.
Her girlfriends now refuse to sit next to her and turn their backs on her for a dark story of an extra half point gleaned during a presentation.
In the hallways, insults and mockery continue.
Including by A. who is no longer in his class.
When they pass each other in the hallways, the two teenagers give each other a "shut up".
One day, he calls her a "whore" in front of his brother.
For no reason, he admits.
Asked about the notion of harassment by the magistrate, A. is nevertheless lucid.
“It's when you go to see a person and repeat phrases like 'you're stupid, you're useless' every day, every day, every day.
Every day, bring her down.
"
At the beginning of February, the violence increased a notch.
Evaëlle assures us that A. pushed her onto the road as the bus arrived.
Several students attest to this.
A. has another version: the schoolgirl has tripped.
"There were a lot of people, she was on the edge of the sidewalk, she fell, everyone laughed", he explains to the magistrate.
By getting up, Evaëlle would have given him a "slap" to which he admits having answered.
"I slapped her too but it didn't affect her, it hit her glasses which fell off.
“Throughout the hearing, the teenager did not cease to minimize the bullying and violence, evoking a misunderstanding more than facts of harassment.
Defense strategy or is he struggling to measure the consequences of his actions?
“He is a little overwhelmed by the seriousness of the case.
They were all very young, 11 years old at the time of the facts, the question of discernment will inevitably arise ”, estimates his lawyer Me Cédric Martinez.
"When Evaëlle is frustrated, she cries"
Could the students also have been influenced by the behavior of their French teacher towards Evaëlle?
It is in any case one of the theses explored by the investigators.
Students report numerous bullying, mockery and his sidelining, at the back of the class, despite eye problems.
Ten days after the story of the bus, the teacher, who joined the National Education in 1987, decides to organize a class life session on the theme: “Why does Evaëlle feel harassed and excluded by the class?
".
The remarks fuse, the girl is in tears.
Some students are uncomfortable.
Even A., who describes himself as the “darling” of this teacher, believes that “it can't be done, we don't have to do that.
"
During her hearing, the fifty-year-old denied any malice.
"My wish was to say to the students" now stop, you are not friends, it does not matter, but everyone stays in their corner ".
For me, this hour of class life went well.
And about crying, […] when Evaëlle is frustrated, she cries.
“Transferred to Brittany, she was finally suspended.
"That 11-year-olds may not take the measure of the harm they cause by their mockery is one thing, but that an adult, a teacher in addition, sadizes a student, it is one thing. other, ”lamented the family lawyer, Me Delphine Meillet.
The council considers that it has thus implicitly authorized certain pupils to attack Evaëlle.
The next day, the girl was once again abused.
The drop of water from an already too full vase
Alerted, her parents change her college and decide to file a complaint against the teacher and the three teenagers.
"We did two police stations, in Herblay and Cergy, and each time we were denied our complaint against the teacher," says her mother.
At her new school, the situation improved until some students learned that she had been bullied before.
The bullying resumes.
Our file on harassment
On June 21, a boy empties his bag and threw his things in the street.
A few hours later, the girl will hang herself in her room.
“The drop of water” of a vase that is probably already too full.
"What we want today is for justice to work on the other aspect of the case, manslaughter," continues the mother of the young victim.
Because harassment is the cause, the consequence of these acts, it is death.
"
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