Will we one day know the truth about what happened in this chalet in Taninges (Haute-Savoie), Tuesday, where a triple infanticide was committed ? The body of a woman whose identity remains to be confirmed, most probably that of the mother, the main suspect, was found on Wednesday, in a car parked in Switzerland, on the other side of the border with Haute-Savoie. She suffered from psychological problems and left a letter. Who was this 45 year old woman? What do his relatives and neighbors say about it? What memory does she leave in the schools she attended?
“It’s hard to believe it, it’s completely unreal”
Throughout the testimonies, we were first told about Déborah P. as a local child. Born in Samoëns, with dual French-Swiss nationality, she was very involved in local life. She had been part of the municipal harmony for over 30 years. from the Haut-Giffre station, the flautist came there every week. She was also treasurer of the music school.
“It's a bit of a family here, everyone knows each other. It's hard to believe it. Déborah, she cared about her children like the apple of her eye, she was a good mother, very maternal“, relatives who wish to remain anonymous told us. Relatives who mourn the three little victimstwo boys aged 2 and 11 and a girl aged 13. The two eldest were the fruit of a first union and the youngest was the son of Déborah P.'s current partner, with whom she lived in the house where the three bodies were found.
The mayor of Taninges, Gilles Péguet, adds and speaks of a family “history who has always lived there. Parents, great-grandparents. It's a family completely from our village, integrated into our village, which was completely a partner of the village, in the associations.”
A “demanding” or too strict teacher?
On the professional side, Déborah P. had just taken a position as CE1 teacher in the Marnaz school, about fifteen kilometers from Taninges, since the start of the school year in September. She had previously taught at the Taninges school, then, for almost ten years, at the Samoëns school. Parents of students at the Samoëns school had judged the teacher too “severe” and reported it to the Academic Inspectorate, via reports and a petition.
Contacted by France Bleu Pays de Savoie, Frédéric Bablon, academy director of Haute-Savoie recognizes that there have indeed been reports, but firmly contests any idea of transfer due to a disciplinary sanction: “She was not automatically transferred, nor sanctioned! In fact, there had been criticisms made by certain parents of students about her severity. Besides, she was a good teacher. And so this transfer was not within the framework of a sanction, it really must be clarified (…) it was a wish on his part to come to Marnaz, to change location, change school and therefore experience a another experience. Besides, it was going pretty well.” he insists.
And he also refutes the term “severe” : “I would say that she was a demanding teacher and that she was someone who was generally, through the inspection reports that she may have had, recognized as a good teacher. the reason why we did not initiate disciplinary procedures at our level was simply his desire to change schools. There was no fault on his part in his original school.
Listening units in five schools
Everywhere the testimonies reflect the same astonishment. To the point that National Education has set up listening cells in five schools : three primary schools where she was able to practice and in two middle schools. That of her children in Taninges and that of Samoëns where former students of hers attended school.
