Silent white march in tribute to the schoolgirl killed in Lot-et-Garonne

More than 3,000 people participated Friday evening in a silent white march, filled with emotion, in Tonneins (Lot-et-Garonne) in tribute to Vanesa, a 14-year-old schoolgirl raped and killed seven days ago at the lunch break in its establishment, according to the gendarmerie.

At nightfall, family, classmates, anonymous residents and elected officials traveled through the small town of nearly 10,000 inhabitants, located 40 km northwest of Agen, from the church to the college via the town hall.

“I am in a lot of pain”

The teenager’s mother, her little brother and her younger sister led the procession, all dressed in white and the portrait of Vanesa in hand. A huge banner, on which the first name of the teenager was written above a multitude of red hearts, was deployed above their heads. “To you Vanesa little angel”, “Neither here nor elsewhere”, “Never again”, could we also read on signs brandished by the participants, their eyes often reddened and white roses in their hands.

A minute of silence closed the march before Vanesa’s mother spoke in Spanish: “Thank you for accompanying us in these moments. I don’t have the words, I’m in a lot of pain,” she said sobbing.

At the end of the afternoon, a mass, punctuated by songs and prayers in both languages, was celebrated in the full church. The teenager’s white coffin was taken out to applause.

“I think about it every day”

“She could have been my granddaughter who is 15 and who knew her”, says Maryse “upset”. ” There are no words. It’s unfair, she was a child very well integrated like all her family. For Tania, mother of two and originally from Portugal, “it’s normal to be here”, supporting the family. “Just like me, they had arrived in France to find work and have a better life”. Petra, 16, whose brother was in the same class as Vanesa, says she has been “scared” ever since. “I think about it every day.”

Friday at the end of the day, the mother of the schoolgirl had given the alert, worried not to have seen her return at midday. With the exploitation of CCTV images, the investigators had gone back to a 31-year-old man living in Marmande, temporary worker and father of a young baby.

The suspect, already convicted of sexual assault at the age of 15, explained that he noticed Vanesa walking on the sidewalk while he was consuming cannabis in his car. He then forced her into his vehicle before raping her and then killing her. He was indicted on Sunday for kidnapping and forcible confinement, rape and murder of a minor, and placed in pre-trial detention.

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