Europe 1 with AFP // Photo credits: Loic Venance/AFP 1:03 p.m., March 21, 2024, modified at 7:28 p.m., March 21, 2024

After the suicide of young Evaëlle in Val-d'Oise in 2019, a teacher suspected of having harassed her will be referred to the Pontoise criminal court. She will appear for having "degraded the living conditions" of the young girl, the charges for manslaughter having been dropped.

The teacher accused of having harassed Evaëlle, a schoolgirl who committed suicide at the age of 11 in Val-d'Oise in 2019, will be judged by the Pontoise criminal court for having "degraded the living conditions" of the teenage girl.

He is accused of having "regularly humiliated" Evaëlle in front of her class, of having "isolated her at the back" and of having organized "classroom hours focusing on school harassment during which she stigmatized her as being the victim of harassment by her comrades and forced her to answer their questions,” the judge wrote in her order consulted by AFP. All of these behaviors had “the effect of a very significant deterioration in the living conditions of the young girl, who isolated herself more and more”.

The teacher “firmly refutes”

"In view of the extremely serious facts accused of the teacher when we know the tragic end of Evaëlle [...], this is the first time that school harassment is considered in the broad sense", reacted to AFP Me Delphine Meillet, lawyer for Evaëlle's family. “That is to say” in the sense “where an investigating judge has ruled that a teacher must be dismissed for reprehensible acts of school harassment against a student,” she clarified. .

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“I would like to emphasize that the initial implication of my client in the tragic death of Evaëlle has been completely ruled out,” declared for her part Me Marie Roumiantseva, counsel for the teacher, now 61 years old. Indeed, in the order issued by the judge, the qualification of involuntary homicide is the subject of a dismissal. No accused, whether the teacher or the teenagers, is fired for these facts. 

“As for the alleged moral harassment attributed to my client, the latter firmly refutes it and will explain it to the trial court if necessary,” added Me Roumiantseva.

Ban on teaching

On June 21, 2019, Evaëlle's father found his 11-year-old daughter hanging from her bed in their house in Herblay (Val-d'Oise). Six months earlier, the teenager had tried to set fire to a beam in the house after a friendly breakup.

Since Evaëlle entered sixth grade at the Isabelle-Autissier college in Herblay, problems have multiplied for the young girl, already the victim of bullying in primary school. Beyond the insulting and violent behavior of classmates, she faces tensions with her French teacher over the implementation of a medical protocol relating to back problems.

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Initially, the situation was resolved internally and Evaëlle, described as precocious, cheerful but having difficulties in social relationships, was no longer afraid of going to French class. However, a few months later, the teacher asked, during a session devoted to school bullying, the students to express their criticisms to Evaëlle who then had to explain herself. Faced with her tears, the teacher became angry and ordered her to answer the questions, according to the students' stories.

Teenagers in front of the judge

In February 2019, Evaëlle's parents filed a complaint against students and withdrew their daughter from college. She had since been followed by a psychologist but a new violent behavior in her new school had caused her to act out. The teacher is also accused of having harassed two other middle school students and obtained a dismissal of charges for a fourth student.

As for the three teenagers initially prosecuted for having harassed Evaëlle, one benefited from a dismissal of the case and two were referred to the children's court for harassment of a minor. Since 2021, the teacher can no longer teach minors and has an obligation to provide psychological care. Furthermore, National Education compensated the family for moral damage, according to the Versailles rectorate, in exchange for the abandonment of possible proceedings against the State.