The facts date back to Monday October 7. The student suspected of having slapped a teacher at her high school in Tourcoing (North) who asked her to remove the veil she had just put on when leaving the establishment, obtained a delay on Wednesday before being judged, and will appear on December 11.
“I’m sorry for the blows I may have given this teacher“, declared the 18-year-old girl, black jacket over white T-shirt, during the immediate appearance hearing during which she obtained this delay.
This final year student in professional hospitality professions will be judged for violence followed by an ITT of less than eight days and threatening to kill a person responsible for a public service mission. She was placed under judicial control with a ban on making contact with the victim and appearing at her home or near the school.
The president indicated that she did not deny hitting the teacher but disputed the death threats.
No criminal record
Stressing that she had no criminal record, the young girl’s lawyer, Ossama Dahmane, estimated at the hearing that her place was not in immediate appearance. He denounced to journalists “a procedure guided by public opinion” and said he hoped that “media pressure” falls back so that his client can arrive calmly at her trial.
Thursday, the Minister of National Education Anne Genetet must go to the Sévigné high school in Tourcoing to “provide support to the educational team“, according to his office.
The teacher was not present at the hearing on Wednesday. “My client was shocked because she is only doing her duty and clearly for some time, teachers (…) and many other professional bodies have always been victims of violence when we want to enforce a rule of law, a principle, safety rules“, his lawyer, Eric Cattelin-Denu, lamented to journalists.
He also pointed out that the teacher’s name had “circulated on social networks“. “I hope not to fear for his safety but in any case, there are (…) postures which are extremely unpleasant“, he pointed.
Classes, suspended on Tuesday, were also canceled on Wednesday in order to allow “a time for discussion and work” for the staff, according to the rectorate.
According to initial investigations, the teacher asked the student “to remove one’s religious veil, before being subjected to insulting remarks”the prosecution indicated on Tuesday.
The teacher then “opposed to his leaving the establishment in order to obtain his identity“and the student then carried”a slap to the teacher, who returned it“. “Several blows, threats and shoving followed.“, according to Lille public prosecutor Carole Etienne. The teacher filed a complaint. A disciplinary council is also planned.
An “uncontrollable and biased excess” of the media
On Tuesday, the minister indicated to the National Assembly that she had requested “very firm disciplinary sanctions” against the student.
In a press release issued on Wednesday, the union representatives of the high school’s educational teams provide their support for their colleague who is a victim of violence, but underline a “uncontrollable and biased runaway“media, social and political networks.
Monday’s eventsare part of a series of five cases of physical attacks against female teachers, which have occurred in recent weeks in different contexts“, they explain, emphasizing that “the question of secularism only arose in one of them“.
Removal of hours, unfilled teaching positions, lack of nurses, “successive deteriorations of our working conditions (…) prevent us from preventing these difficulties, as we had always done before they transformed into violence“, they write.
A handful of students gathered in front of the high school at midday on Wednesday, including a friend of the accused who described the situation as “injustice“, considering that putting a veil back on before having completely left the establishment was “usual“.
For Bilel (who did not wish to give his last name), a high school student who came to court to support his friend, these facts “don’t look like him at all“. “What I didn’t understand was that the teacher got into her game by slapping him. What she should have done is play smart, knowing she’s an adult“, he estimated.
