“A horrible scene, which chills the blood,” recalls Franck Rovira, the regional secretary of the Alliance Police union. “Of course, the job of police officer is difficult, we are never invited to a wedding or a happy event. But here, it’s particularly appalling,” he explains at the microphone of France Bleu Roussillon. On Thursday, September 14, departmental security officials discovered the swollen body of a 7-year-old child in a bathtub. All the elements suggest that it would have been previously frozen. The father, present during this discovery, is considered the main suspect. 20 minutes make the point.
How was little Imran’s body discovered?
On September 14, a funeral company in Perpignan was contacted by a man. He explains that his son has died and that he wishes to collect the body in order to bury it in Algeria. Faced with this unusual request, the employee asked for more information, including his name and address. The father then sends him a death certificate, which turns out to be a fake. The doctor explains to the funeral home employee, who contacts him because of his doubts, that he has never signed such a document. The employee alerted the police who immediately sent a patrol to this building in the popular Bas-Vernet district, in the Pyrénées-Orientales prefecture.
On site and faced with the lack of response, the officials broke down the front door. They then discovered the body of the little boy in the bathtub, his body covered in bruises and still partly frozen. Everything suggests that he had been dead for several days, before being put in a freezer, placed next to the bathtub when the police arrived.
Why did the father have custody of the three children?
Arrested in the apartment, the father, Salim B., aged 28, expressed no empathy for his son. Known to the courts for acts of violence, he nevertheless had custody of his children. The mother’s psychological problems would be at the origin of this decision.
According to the latter’s lawyer, Me Ilyacine Maallaoui, she filed a complaint in January 2023. Then an “extremely detailed” complaint for violence against herself and their children in June. ” She knew [que ses enfants étaient en danger] and she brought it to the attention of the judicial institution, through the police station,” explained the lawyer on the BFM set.
Why were the uncle and paternal grandmother indicted?
The little boy’s father was indicted on Sunday for “murder of a 15-year-old minor” and for “attempted murder” of his two daughters, aged 4 and 5. Two children dropped off by their uncle in the emergency room of the Perpignan hospital center, at the very moment when the police discovered their brother’s body. Both bore the scars of numerous acts of violence. The most affected is unconscious and has significant head trauma. Their vital prognosis is no longer in jeopardy.
In the process, the uncle was arrested, as was the mother of the two men. Both were indicted on Sunday for “failure to report a crime” and placed under judicial supervision. The investigation was entrusted to the Perpignan judicial police. The autopsy of little Imran is to be carried out this Monday. In particular, it must make it possible to know the day and circumstances of his death.