Filmed attack on a teenage girl in Tours: four young girls will be judged

Europe 1 with AFP // Photo credit: Loic Venance/AFP 8:00 p.m., April 5, 2024

Four young girls will be judged "for theft with violence in a meeting" after the attack filmed on Wednesday of a 14-year-old girl "following an ambush" in Tours, the city prosecutor announced on Friday. Within three months, the four teenagers will have to answer for their actions before the children's court also "for dissemination of the recording of images relating to the commission of a willful attack on the integrity of the person", specified Ms. Catherine Sorita-Minard, in a press release broadcast on X. A fifth young girl, barely 11 years old, will be taken care of educationally by a children's judge.

The victim suffered craniofacial trauma with a broken nose and seven days of ITT

In the press release, the magistrate gave details concerning the course of the attack which is linked to the phenomenon of “Happy Slapping” which refers to the act of filming the physical attack of someone. Wednesday, around 4:30 p.m. in a park behind a school in Tours, "the violent attack on a 14-year-old girl was perpetrated by five 'comrades' from her school, young girls aged 11 to 15, following an ambush organized by one of them,” said the prosecutor.

The victim was punched and kicked in the face and body, thrown to the ground and beaten. "'We type and you film' was ordered to one of them: it appears that two of the perpetrators filmed the scene while participating in the violence. The videos were almost simultaneously broadcast on social networks , a phenomenon known as 'Happy slapping'", detailed the magistrate.

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Concerning the motive for the attack, it would have originated from “exchanges on a Snapchat group, with insults and threats of violence”. “As often, the motive appears particularly futile and out of step with the outburst of violence observed when viewing the videos,” continues the prosecutor. The victim also had his boots, phone and other items stolen. She had a cranofacial trauma with a broken nose and seven days of ITT (temporary incapacity for work), according to the same source.

Pending their trial, the young girls involved will be subject to judicial supervision, particularly in the form of a provisional judicial educational measure. This attack occurred the day before other violent events such as in Montpellier, where a 13-year-old girl, Samara, was attacked by classmates at her school following “invectives” on social networks. A 15-year-old teenager, attacked Thursday near his college in Viry-Châtillon (Essonne), died Friday from his injuries.