The facts, reported by The Republican East and confirmed by Paul-Edouard Lallois, public prosecutor in Montbéliard, occurred on March 28 in the locker room of a college gymnasium, on the sidelines of a sports class. Six schoolgirls from Sochaux (Doubs) suspected of the violent filmed attack on one of their classmates, are being prosecuted and will be tried in July. The six defendants are unknown to the courts. Five of them were permanently excluded from the college and one last must still go before a disciplinary council, according to the rectorate which specifies that the student victim and his family are supported by the establishment.
A violent and rapid attack
The victim, aged 14, was “taken to task by a classmate” who allegedly accused him of having discussed things about his private life behind his back. She came to insult her, before physically attacking her, grabbing her “by the hair” and making her fall to the ground before “kicking” her, continued the magistrate. The scene, which lasted “a few seconds”, was filmed by four other schoolgirls. A fifth approached the perpetrator of the violence to tell her in essence “it’s good, she got her due”, according to the magistrate.
The victim suffered a contusion to one thigh and post-traumatic shock. A two-day ITT was noted. “Particularly shocked”, the victim did not speak of the facts to her family. It was only two days later that her father learned “that a video showing his daughter being molested” was being circulated among students. He took her to the police station to file a complaint, the prosecutor explained.
“Happy slapping” or filming violence without intervening
The five schoolgirl accomplices were arrested on Monday in the establishment, the day of the start of the school year in Burgundy-Franche-Comté. The perpetrator of the violence was arrested on Thursday. The latter is being prosecuted for aggravated violence. Placed under judicial supervision with a ban on contact with the victim and other suspects, she was placed in a home.
The five others are being prosecuted for complicity in violence, “happy slapping”, the fact of filming a scene of violence without intervening, constituting complicity, even if the video had not been broadcast, elements of which the adolescents had not conscience, explained the magistrate.