The courthouse of Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine). (Drawing) – Clément Follain / 20 Minutes
After the preliminary investigation, the complaint. Since January 2020, the Nanterre public prosecutor’s office has been leading an investigation into the Gustave-Baguer public institute in Asnières-sur-Seine (Hauts-de-Seine), specializing in education for young people with hearing disorders. A complaint for physical violence has just been redirected to him, that of a 15-year-old teenager, filed on April 7 in Val-d’Oise, according to a source familiar with the matter. Another source announces that it is targeting a nurse at the establishment.
Justice has begun to take an interest in this institute, which can accommodate up to 180 students from early childhood, including young deaf or hard of hearing, sometimes with psychiatric disorders, after the report of a child psychiatrist. In January 2020, the practitioner expressed concern for a deaf teenage girl. This young disabled person, “particularly fragile”, would have come out “terrified” of an interview with the director whose management “authoritarian and not concerted with his team” is also denounced in this report consulted by AFP.
“Manipulation and revenge”, according to the director of the institute
The Nanterre prosecutor’s office then opened a preliminary investigation, revealed by Mediapart in April 2021. Testimonies from professionals and families, collected by the site of investigations, denounce in particular the recruitment of untrained personnel and reacting with “violence”, such as “a facilitator who throws a teenager on the ground”. For a year, investigators have been hearing staff members to “understand the functioning” of the institute, according to a source familiar with the matter. They also seek to determine whether there was “psychological or psychological violence”.
Contacted, the director Alexandre Cabouche, arrived in August 2019, defended himself by denouncing “personal manipulation and revenge” on the part of employees. Regarding accusations of abuse, he said that “a professional cannot be violent and abusive against a child, either he protects him against himself, or against a child, or against a professional”. He insisted on stressing that he had not been “approached” by investigators.
The Secretary of State in charge of people with disabilities follows the case
On the guardianship side, the Hauts-de-Seine delegation from the Regional Health Agency (ARS) ensured that it carried out “diligent monitoring” of the institute. The Departmental Council did not respond. The Secretary of State in charge of the disabled, Sophie Cluzel, indicated that she had spoken on Monday by videoconference with several families of students of the Baguer Institute, to “listen” to them and show them her support.
“I will follow this file personally and we will shed light on what happened,” said Sophie Cluzel, who declined to comment on “individual cases”. The families have expressed an “extremely strong emotion” because of “testimonies of dysfunction”, according to her. “I will be at their side so that the institute rediscovers its expertise. We will act to redress the bar ”.
In April 2020, the ARS had already noted in an email consulted by AFP the “significant dissatisfaction of professionals and families”, but also underlined the commitment made by the director to “strengthen communication” and welcomed his “Strong involvement in the recovery of the establishment”, in particular in “the optimization of resources”.