Saturday, December 21, a tribute was paid to the 16-year-old teenager who was fatally injured during a brawl that occurred 4 days earlier in the 13th arrondissement of Paris. Present, his father returned to his son's personality and expressed his incomprehension.
“The emotion is enormous.” Sara was this Saturday, December 21 in the 13th arrondissement of Paris to pay tribute to her son Abass, fatally injured during a brawl that occurred four days earlier.
At the microphone of BFMTV, the father first returned to his son's personality. “He is someone who is well educated (…) In terms of studies, there is no problem, we have never had a problem. Whether at school or at the level of the police,” he says. The man adds that the teenager was not “someone who hangs around” or “who experienced banditry”.
Born in 2008, the young man lost his life following a brawl that occurred on December 17 near the Rodin high school between around ten young individuals. Found in cardio-respiratory arrest, he could not be resuscitated following his stab wound.
Abass went to school in Val-de-Marne and had already been injured on December 10 by a stab near the René Cassin high school, in the 16th arrondissement.
“It could happen to someone else tomorrow.”
At the Tour-à-Parachutes Stadium, Sara said she was touched by the presence of people who came to pay tribute to her son. “It's an important day today, we didn't expect that (…) Unfortunately, it only happens to good people who have nothing to do with banditry. Since this tragedy took place, everyone mobilized, supported me,” he explains.
Today, he hopes to see change and that such violence stops: “We are all parents. It could happen to someone else tomorrow (…) It hurts very, very bad to lose your child in this kind of tragedy.”
He further emphasizes his son's behavior. “If he had problems with the police or with young people, if he was summoned several times, I would expect that, but for it to happen to someone who is innocent, who is correct, who works well… The emotion is enormous,” he insists.
“Recurring” brawls in the neighborhood
Following this brawl, an initial investigation into “murder” was opened, before being reclassified as “premeditated murder”.
A 16-year-old minor was arrested shortly after the incident, but his link with Abass' death is not yet known. He has been in pre-trial detention for murder since December 19. The other people involved in the brawl fled.
The event above all highlights the violence raging in the 13th arrondissement of the capital. The prosecution further stated that “this murder is a continuation of a phenomenon of recurring brawls between young people” in the neighborhood. He specified that eight clashes have taken place there since May 2024.
Agathe Courret with Mélanie Hennebique
