“ I am from Toulouse and I work in Marseille, I took the 6:57 p.m. train as usual.” Marjorie, 26, put an end to Levis E.'s journey without imagining that he was perhaps a criminal. “It's difficult to realize… If I had known, I 'might have reacted differently.'
The young woman, who agreed to testify in Var-Matin, met the man suspected of being the Lyon concrete block killer in a TER car no. 17493 departing from Saint-Charles station. “He pushed me very hard, I turned around to apologize to him“, confides Marjorie. In vain. “He hit me hard on the back.”
“I put myself in a defensive posture… I heard him threaten me and insult me in English. He told me that he had seen me clearly and that he was going to wait for me“, continues the Toulonnaise. “People didn't react and he walked towards the back of the train.”
“Very responsive controllers”
Marjorie then decided to raise the alarm while the train was traveling – without stopping on this section – towards Toulon. “My goal was that someone who was very aggressive would not harm another person (…) I had recorded the SNCF emergency number.”
The call to “31.17” proved effective. “They were very responsive, in a few minutes the controllers came to meet me.” she explains. “They took me to safety in a compartment and went looking for the individual.”
A few moments later, SNCF agents returned to see the passenger. “They asked me to accompany them to see if I recognized [mon agresseur].” Levis E. was “at the back of the train.” “When he saw me, he hid his head in his hood.”
“I completely recognized him.”
“I completely recognized him, I waved to the controllers.” The Varoise then returned to the shelter. “The train stopped at Toulon station (around 7:45 p.m., Editor’s note), the controllers used the excuse of an incident to explain the delay.” The doors were only unlocked when the alerted police arrived at 7:55 p.m.
Levis E. would have indicated that he intended to go to Nice (where the TER was expected at 9:38 p.m.). The inspectors issued a fixed fine for lack of a transport ticket. The individual did not have any identification either.
Four police officers from the Toulon police station arrested him without incident. “There was no outrage, no rebellion, we didn’t even need to handcuff him”confides a police source. The TER left at 8:08 p.m.
“It seems difficult to take the train again”
“Following all of this, I was told that I could file a complaint the next day“, concludes Marjorie. “But an hour later the police called me back to tell me it was much more serious…”
His attacker is the subject of an arrest warrant for criminal offenses. “It was a big emotional shock, we didn't expect it“, explains the woman from Toulouse who filed the complaint. She is already assisted by a lawyer from the Toulon bar.”I saw a forensic doctor – who gave me six days of ITT – and I’m going to have to have an x-ray.”
“We think we will return home safely and we come across a very dangerous case (…) For the moment, it seems difficult to me to be able to take the train again.” However, confides the young woman who volunteers in an association committed to inclusion and against school bullying, ““it’s relatively reassuring to know that this person has been arrested.”
