The contours of the brawl which led to the death of Matisse, 15, stabbed on Saturday in Châteauroux (Indre), are beginning to emerge. According to the first elements of the investigation, an altercation, then a fight, first broke out between the two teenagers.
Secondly, the teenager suspected of being the author of the murder returned with a knife, followed by his mother, before stabbing Matisse, according to information from Le Parisien. But after these stabbings, the mother of the accused allegedly slapped Matisse, we also learned.
Both placed in police custody on Saturday, the alleged perpetrator, an Afghan minor of the same age as the victim, and his mother, must be referred this Monday afternoon to the criminal justice department. As we revealed, the suspect, known to the courts, was already indicted on April 22 in another case for “aggravated theft with violence”. Agnès Auboin, the public prosecutor of Châteauroux, opened an investigation for “attempted voluntary homicide”.
Racist remarks exchanged?
Gray areas persist, but a scenario seems to be becoming clearer. Saturday April 27, in the afternoon, the two teenagers, who know each other, were together in the Saint-Denis district with other young people. They would have participated in a freestyle rap “battle”, according to the suspect’s entourage. A fight would have broken out between the two teenagers, after discriminatory remarks that Matisse would have made against the young Afghan during this improvisation. Witnesses even mentioned “racist comments” made by Matisse, a police source told Le Parisien, calling for caution and recalling the context of an altercation in the street. During the confrontation, Matisse allegedly “took the upper hand”, causing the other teenager to bleed.
The latter would have gone back to his home, located a few hundred meters away, to retrieve a knife. The young man, “fragile”, is being monitored psychologically, said one of his relatives.
He came back down, followed by his mother, and headed towards a wrecked car, in which Matisse was sitting in the back, and other young people, explains the suspect’s entourage. Equipped with a knife, the teenager allegedly stabbed Matisse, through the open window, with two stab wounds, one of which struck the heart. The mother of the teenager suspected of being the perpetrator of the fatal blows then allegedly slapped Matisse. At no time did the accused’s mother, described by those close to her as “vindictive” and “unstable”, try to calm her son down.
The victim allegedly got out of the vehicle, tried to flee for a few meters, before collapsing. Emergency services, notified around 5:45 p.m., quickly arrived on the scene. They were joined by the police. Seriously injured in the chest but alive, Matisse was transported to hospital with a life-threatening prognosis. He died in the evening from his injuries. The teenager identified by witnesses as the perpetrator was arrested around 7:15 p.m. near the scene of the brawl and placed in police custody.
An investigation was opened by the Châteauroux public prosecutor’s office for “attempted intentional homicide”. It was entrusted to the interregional judicial police service of Orléans, jointly seized with the departmental judicial police service of Châteauroux. An autopsy of the victim was ordered by the prosecution.
The accused known to the justice system
The accused is not unknown to the police and justice services. This 15-year-old teenager, of Afghan nationality and whose parents are in a legal situation, is already the subject of two procedures.
On April 22, he was indicted for “aggravated theft with violence”, in the context of a case linked to the theft of a cell phone at knifepoint, as part of a tense ambush. via “a dating site”, as we revealed on Sunday.
He had been placed under judicial supervision, “the only safety measure provided for by the code of Criminal Justice for minors given his age, with no previous conviction,” confirmed the public prosecutor in Châteauroux, Agnès Auboin, in a press release.
He was also indicted for a second similar case, of “meeting theft”, which occurred on February 27. This is also a cell phone theft, at knifepoint, but no judicial investigation has been opened into these facts, according to our information.