Wally was 14 years old. The teenager was killed during a brawl on January 29, 2020, rue Juliette-Dodu, in the 10th arrondissement of Paris, in the heart of the Grange-aux-Belles district. A dozen young people swooped down on him and beat him up. One of them hit him in the leg with a knife. The femoral artery was hit. The police gave him first aid and tried to stop the bleeding by applying a tourniquet. The victim, who bled to death on the sidewalk, died the next day at Lariboisière Hospital. By dissecting the images from the surveillance cameras, the investigators of the 2nd judicial police district quickly managed to identify the author of the fatal blow. He was filmed disposing of the murder weapon, an Opinel with a 30cm blade, by throwing it into a bush. He is also 14 years old. He was arrested the day after the incident.
Three years later, this young man from a city in the 20th arrondissement, appeared on Monday before the Assize Court for minors in Paris for “violence committed in a meeting resulting in death without intention of giving it”. He faces 15 years in prison. He is also on trial, alongside three other teenagers, for “participation with a weapon in a crowd”, an offense punishable by three years’ imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euros. The trial will be held behind closed doors. One of his accomplices, who was under 16 at the time, was tried last October in juvenile court. Accused of supplying him with the knife and hitting Wally in the head with a handgun, he was sentenced to five years in prison, two of which were suspended on probation, along with a warrant of committal.
Revenge ?
Why did these young people fight with weapons in the heart of Paris, so violently that one of them died? “There is no real motive, as is often the case in these brawl cases. It starts with trifles, “explains to 20 minutes Me Sabrina Goldman, Wally’s family attorney. “He died for nothing, for nothing,” she repeats. Her older sister, Fatou, said last June that on France Television, that his brother was leaving school when he received a phone call. One of his friends was being mugged. “We told him: ‘Come quickly, come and help him'”. “From there a fight broke out. He was present at the scene, but he was on the side. He was waiting for his friends, ”says the young girl. “Wally was a boy without history, insists Me Goldman. He was unknown to the police and was much loved by his family. »
A nuanced version by Me Julien Fresnault. The lawyer for the young man who stabbed him wants to “put things in context”. According to him, everything starts from a “scam concerning the sale of Airpods”. The victim and his “gang” “came to the neighborhood for revenge”. It would therefore be a “return match”, according to his words. Wally, remarks Me Fresnault, had moreover “a crowbar in the hand bought two hours earlier, with the receipt in the pocket”. His client, now 17, who has only been convicted of theft once, “found himself in there.” “He struck a blow in the leg. And unfortunately, that has dramatic consequences. »