South France
Student kills teacher – “I listened to voice”
Police officers stand guard at the school entrance after the crime. photo
© Bob Edme/AP/dpa
A 16-year-old student stabs his Spanish teacher in the middle of class. The attack unleashed shocks in France. Someone took possession of his body, he says after the fact.
The student who stabbed his Spanish teacher in class in southern France says he listened to a voice during the crime.
Someone had taken possession of his body, the 16-year-old would have said after the crime yesterday, public prosecutor Jérôme Bourrier said in Bayonne today. “I ruined my life, it’s all over,” the student said. The youth is being investigated for premeditated murder, and he was reportedly taken into custody.
“While in police custody, the suspect reported seeing a small voice speaking to him, a being he describes as selfish, manipulative and self-centered, leading him to do evil, and allegedly having suggested that he commit murder the previous day “said the prosecutor. The student had been under psychiatric treatment since the fall and was molested at his previous school. A mental illness or incapacity cannot be assumed after an initial examination.
The student attacked the teacher with a kitchen knife
During the Spanish lesson, the 16-year-old got up, locked the classroom door and stabbed his 54-year-old teacher, who was standing at the blackboard, in the upper body with a large kitchen knife. After the attack in the high school in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, not far from the Spanish border, the classmates ran away in panic. The 16-year-old went into an adjacent room where two teachers put him, the prosecutor said. It was a good student, he only had problems in Spanish.
The act of violence caused shock in France. A minute’s silence was held in all schools across the country on Thursday. President Emmanuel Macron said he shares the pain of the country’s family, colleagues, students and teachers who have dedicated their lives to passing on knowledge to future generations. “The nation stands by your side.”