The circumstances of Matisse’s death on Saturday in Châteauroux are becoming clearer.
Matisse, a 15-year-old apprentice cook, was stabbed on Saturday April 27 in the town of Châteauroux (Indre). A 15-year-old young man and his 37-year-old mother have since been arrested and taken into police custody. They were presented to an investigating judge this Monday. An investigation into attempted homicide was initially opened. After Matisse’s death, which occurred on Saturday evening, it was reclassified as intentional homicide. Monday evening, several unclear areas persisted, in particular on the facts with which the mother is accused.
On Saturday, it all started with an argument between the two teenagers who were participating in a freestyle rap “battle” in the Saint-Denis district. According to information from Parisian, insults made by the young Matisse against the other teenager of Afghan origin would have sparked a fight. According to https://twitter.com/BFMTV/status/1784888808418271241the suspect would have confided during his police custody that he passed in front of Matisse and was insulted as “son of Bin Laden, son of Afghan”, the young man even ordering him to “go back[r] In [s]on pays”. A confrontation would then have taken place. Matisse would have taken the upper hand, punching the other teenager and making him bleed, reports The Parisian. The insults and the blow have since been confirmed by several testimonies and investigative elements, notes BFMTV.
“The hearing of witnesses and the statements of the minor both during his custody and before the investigating magistrate, seem consistent to indicate that the two minors knew each other and had insulted each other before the facts,” established the prosecutor of the Republic of Bourges, Céline Visiedo, in a press release issued Monday evening. No racist remarks are mentioned by the prosecution.
The young Afghan, described as “fragile” by one of his relatives who claims that he is being psychologically monitored, then went home to retrieve a knife. Followed by his mother when he returned outside, he then allegedly stabbed Matisse twice. One of the shots would have hit the heart, it is believed The Parisian. Matisse then tried to flee before collapsing. Emergency services arrived quickly on site, around 6 p.m. Still alive, Matisse was reportedly taken to hospital before dying from his injuries in the evening. An autopsy was requested by the prosecution, relays Release. The suspect was arrested immediately, around 7:15 p.m. on the evening of the incident.
What role did the suspect’s mother play?
Described by relatives as being “unstable” but also “vindictive”, still relays The Parisian, did the mother of the teenager suspected of having killed Matisse play a role in this affair? The versions differ. Some witnesses assure that she did nothing to calm her son and that she even slapped Matisse after her son stabbed him. Others, however, claim that she tried to resuscitate him.
The main person concerned allegedly claimed in police custody that she had not hit the teenager. According to information from BFMTV, she explained that she tried to separate the two teenagers. In a regular situation, she has “no criminal record”, the prosecutor said this weekend in a press release. Note that the young man’s father is also in a regular situation.
The suspect already known to the justice system
The teenager today accused of having killed Matisse is already known to the police and justice services, report several media, including The Parisian. His name thus comes up in two cases. A few days before the altercation with Matisse, on April 22, he was indicted for “aggravated theft with violence”. He is also involved in a meeting theft case which dates back to February 27. In both cases, it involves theft of a cell phone at knifepoint.
On April 22, he was placed under judicial supervision, namely the “only security measure provided for by the Code of Criminal Justice for Minors, for a minor of his age, without previous conviction and indicted for acts of correctional nature”, had specified on this subject the prosecutor Agnès Auboin in a press release.
Matisse’s Father’s Call
At the microphone of RTL this Monday, the father of the teenager who died on Saturday estimated that “no one knows what happened”. “I hear about everything and nothing, so don’t believe what is being said everywhere, wait for the end of the investigation, we will know, things are already progressing well,” he warned, calling for pay attention to what you read. “Be careful of all sides, from the right or elsewhere, who appropriate this kind of thing,” added the bereaved man, also inviting people “not to engage in hatred or violence.” And to conclude: “For Matou, who was a real nice guy, be the same.”
