anti-Muslim aggression after Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray: the defendant expresses regret – Le Figaro

A man who had insulted and hit a Muslim Senegalese septuagenarian following the murder of the father Hamel, was presented Friday to justice. Victim seeks “exemplary” trial.

The case dates back to July 27, the day after the murder of Father Jacques Hamel, murdered during mass by two young jihadists in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray. It’s five o’clock in Barentin, a town fifteen kilometers north of Rouen, when a man driving his car crossed a parking lot a septuagenarian from Senegal, who was driving his daughters to their vehicle. The old man, wearing a djellaba and fez (cap of Islamic origin, including scope in North Africa), is threatened by the driver: “Dirty Black, if I stay here, it is to hit you. I’ll cut your throat for you as you do us to us is not because you’re in a dress and a hat are you going to make the law here, “shouted the man.

the septuagenarian tries to return to his apartment but his attacker backtracked and tried unsuccessfully to overthrow him. He continues in the building and in the elevator, the knock on the head and tried to strangle her. Suffered a head injury, the old man was transported to University Hospital of Rouen, and placed under observation.

Target a complaint lodged by the children of the victim, the aggressor was presented at this first hearing, Friday, August 5, displaying his remorse. “I regret the suffering you have experienced,” said he told the family of the victim, turning to her.

According to his lawyer, Jean-Marc Virelisier, the accused was under the influence of alcohol after a very drunken night at the time. “It is not racist and sincere regret over what happened, even being amnesiac about certain facts,” said he said, adding that the former military, engaged for five years in the French army, tall and sturdy, had a very unstable life. “Without the context of the attack, the case would go unnoticed,” said the lawyer.

But the septuagenarian, still in shock and absent at the hearing, the trial “should be exemplary “and have” educational value “, has he indicated through his lawyer Ouadie Elhamamouchi, the Bobigny Bar. “It is too early to accept the apology. This trial should be that of human stupidity, intolerance, racism and Islamophobia, “he responded, according to his lawyer. Within the local community sénagalaise, assault sparked strong anger

In addition to his five children, three associations have brought civil party. LICRA, SOS Racisme and the Collective against Islamophobia in France (CCIF). Challenged his contacts communitarians, this group has engaged to monitor this case very closely, on the social network Twitter.

The defendant was eventually released under judicial control, to demand his lawyer. The trial was postponed on October 4, the time to prepare his defense.