His death caused great emotion. The mother of Lucas, a Vosges teenager who committed suicide in 2023 at the age of 13, is publishing a book this Wednesday, January 8 to “pay tribute” to her son, “raise awareness of harassment” and help parents who are confronted with it, a- she told AFP.
“I decided to make a book to raise awareness of harassment, so that we also remember Lucas, the fight I am leading to do him justice, so that there are no more victims too,” explained Séverine Vermard in this interview.
“Challenge”
With the publication of “Lucas, symbol in spite of himself” (Harper Collins), two years after his death, “I want people to remember Lucas as a warrior, as a hero,” she added. “It’s also a way for me to keep him alive, because he’s always in people’s heads.”
“I wrote this book to challenge all the people who are victims of harassment, but (…) all the harassers too, because we also have to help them,” she continued, emphasizing that she “wanted to highlight also before the questions she had” to be able to “give advice” to parents.
“Talk to your children, follow them, don’t hesitate, don’t judge them above all”, says this mother, who created the anti-harassment association LUNAH (Freedom, unity, no to harassment), and believes that “many more trained people” and “many more resources for associations” are needed in this fight.
Four teenagers sentenced
Lucas, 13, committed suicide in Golbey, in the Vosges, on January 7, 2023 after writing a note expressing his desire to end his life. Those close to him had denounced acts of harassment, revealing the mockery and homophobic insults of which the teenager had said he was the victim from other schoolchildren.
Four teenagers from his college, prosecuted for “harassment leading to suicide”, were convicted at first instance, without the link between the harassment and Lucas’ suicide being established. They were then acquitted on appeal in November 2023. The prosecution and the boy’s family appealed to the Court of Cassation.
The administrative investigation carried out by National Education concluded that Lucas had indeed been the victim of harassment, the ministry indicated in December.
In her book, Séverine Vermard says she discovered “a few days before the appeal hearing” in 2023 that the administrative investigation announced by Pap Ndiaye, Minister of Education at the time, “had never been opened”.
“I fell from 15,000 floors,” she adds to AFP, explaining that she had to go see Gabriel Attal, then Prime Minister, in February 2024 to ask him to restart it. “It’s not normal,” she said.
Original article published on BFMTV.com
