In the town of Vergèze, a few hours after the attack, residents were divided between fear and anger.
“Shocking”. “Terrible”. “Horrible”. This Saturday, January 11, in the town of Vergèze, emotions are running high. A few hours earlier, around 11:15 a.m., a 44-year-old jogger was attacked at the fitness trail, located on the heights of the village, along the highway. The victim, who lives in Aigues-Vives, reportedly received several stab wounds to the back and throat. “At the moment, we have no information on this individual but he is actively sought.“, specifies Cécile Gensac, prosecutor of Nîmes, present at the command post installed immediately in the gymnasium rue de la Picholine, a few steps from the scene of the attack. She adds that the vital diagnosis of the victim remains, for ‘hour, “very committed and very reserved”.
“We wonder why?!”
In the town of nearly 5,000 inhabitants, the time has come for questions. “We wonder why?! If there was a history between the victim and the attacker or if we risk being attacked at any time?!”asks Ophélie, a shopkeeper from the city center who still came to open her shop this early afternoon. “It’s certain that since noon, it’s strange. My daughter was playing sports in the gymnasium which was requisitioned. They didn’t let any child leave without the presence of a parent. And when my daughter came home , she said to me: “Quickly, close the door, a lady has had her throat cut.”says the mother. A concern which is also palpable at the sports bar where a few customers are harnessed to the counter. “Of course everyone has been talking about it since this morning.”declares the bartender, evoking in particular the presence of numerous gendarmes and the helicopter which flew over the town for a few hours to try to find the attacker.
A place known to be dangerous
“Above all, it takes us back a few years, to the rape of another jogger. It was in the same place”adds a client and also friend of the previous victim. A second attack which causes, in addition to the excitement, a certain anger among the residents. Because this health trail, supposed to be a family place, is not reassuring according to them. “Historically, it is a place of homosexual meetings. We regularly see very explicit scenes, even though children pass by”protests a local resident who went out to walk his dog at the same time, not far from the scene of the attack. Drug trafficking, exhibition, verbal attacks… the list is long according to witnesses. Ophélie, the shopkeeper even admits to not going to the woods when she is alone. “As a woman, we know that this is a sector to avoid”.
-In March 2016, another jogger attacked
This tragedy reminds residents of another attack which took place a few years earlier, in March 2016. A jogger, aged 33 at the time, was hit with a bottle before being threatened with a knife and then raped. . A violent scene which took place in this same health course in Vergèze. The author, aged 15 at the time of the facts, was sentenced to five years in prison. But, a few years later, in 2021, this same individual, then aged 20, was arrested again, this time for attempted murder of his partner, in Nîmes.
A situation that could be avoided according to Gwendoline, who lives a few meters from the woods. “The problem is this hole in the fence that separates the highway (and the highway rest areas, editor’s note) from the park. Every day we see people passing through there and doing their business. And several times we warned the police and the town hall, but nothing changes”she protests. Another resident, who has lived in Vergèze for more than fifty years, has the same opinion: “I have a friend who goes running in the woods sometimes, and she often tells me that she saw a guy come out of nowhere and show off.”he says.
If on the morning of the attack, Gwendoline saw nothing, such a tragedy does not surprise her. “I alerted the police that this could happen if nothing was done”she regrets. At the start of the evening this Saturday, the man, who is believed to be around thirty years old according to our information, has still not been found. Just like the weapon he allegedly used during the attack. The operational system is therefore maintained until this Sunday morning. For her part, if Pascale Fortunat-Deschamps, mayor of Vergèze, alerted her constituents on social networks to avoid the search area so as not to encroach on the work of the gendarmes, she did not, for her part, time, did not respond to our requests.
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