“The image of our city is tarnished”, annoys the mayor

Emotions are still strong in Vergèze (Gard) where a jogger was violently attacked with a knife, Saturday January 11, 2025. While an investigation is underway and several avenues are still being explored according to our information, Pascale Fortunat-Deschamps, mayor of the town, goes to the niche following the numerous press articles published in connection with this very sad episode which she describes as being a “ tragedy ».

This Tuesday, January 14, the Gardoise is requesting a right of reply.

“The image of our city is gratuitously tarnished”

“The press article of January 13, 2025 entitled “I saw men having sexual intercourse”, gratuitously smears the image of Vergèze,” she begins.

To date, there is nothing to suggest that the attacker of the fitness trail arrived via the motorway rest area, and I completely reject the conflation between these two subjects, which should be dissociated: this terrible attack on the fitness trail and the problem of the motorway rest area.

In her right of reply, Pascale Fortunat-Deschamps indicates that this attack “resembles an attempted femicide, the motivations of which no one knows to this day.”

A hypothesis confirmed by several sources Actu.fr. “It is a tragedy, which shocks the inhabitants all the more as Vergèze is a peaceful commune where the level of delinquency is low,” specifies the councilor.

“No complaints since 2016”

Concerning this health course at the heart of the controversy, the mayor of the town insists on the fact that “no complaint or handout has concerned this place since 2016”.

However, I am not unaware of the problems posed by the rest areas managed by Vinci Autoroute and the regular damage to the fence which allows passage and in particular generates deposits of waste on the other side of the fence.

Of the controls are regularly operated in the area by the municipal police in order to control the situation in a somewhat sensitive area. “I am well aware that this problem must be resolved, and I have requested the organization of a meeting with VINCI as soon as possible to find lasting solutions in consultation with the company,” continues the mayor. Before ending: “I ask everyone to show restraint in their comments and in the dissemination of the information relayed, out of respect for the victim and so as not to disrupt the ongoing investigation.”

For now, no arrest did not take place in connection with the assault.

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