the essential
His two sisters, his grandfather, his parents came together. To remember Mathis Toffolon, who died at the age of 20 at the Victor-Hugo market, in Toulouse on the morning of November 4, 2023. To also be surprised by an investigation with no news and questions that remain unanswered.
Mathis, 20 years old. A smile, a beautiful face, “her shyness too,” intervenes Blandine, her mother. “A brave kid. He worked on the rugby fields, limped home but got up to go to work in the mechanics. Not the type to shy away,” warns André, his grandfather. “I often had it at home. It was simpler for him, less road, less travel. He came to have lunch, and to sleep too. A good little one. »
Also read:
INFO LA DEPECHE. Death of Mathis in a melting room at the Victor-Hugo market: police custody, searches… the investigation is progressing in Toulouse
Ambre and Anastasia, the boy's sisters, smile at the mention. Also hiding a few tears. A year has almost passed and the death of this rugby-mad brother, a scrum-half highly appreciated well beyond Lauragais, “his country”, retains its share of mystery. This evening at the beginning of November 2023, in Toulouse, he came to “party, have fun with friends”. He died early in the morning, at the Victor-Hugo market.
“Are you interested in this file?”
“We ask ourselves a lot of questions but for the moment, apart from the police at the start, we have no news. We did not meet the investigating judge, nor saw the prosecutor. Is this file still of interest to anyone? », asks his mother.
On the morning of November 4, 2023, after drinking a lot, Mathis Toffolon fell into a vat used for melting ice from the fishmongers of the Victor-Hugo market, the belly of Toulouse. He was burned to death by water mixed with acid. ” For what ? Was he running from something? Investigators told us no one was behind him. However, he was afraid and he tried to hide,” said his family.
Also read:
20-year-old died in an ice machine in Toulouse: safety in question at the Victor-Hugo market
His sister, with him on the night of his disappearance, remembers the altercation in a bar at the bottom of rue Gabriel-Péri, “where he was taken out viciously by the bouncers, gassed, even though he had no connection with the altercation inside.” From his phone “curiously disappeared then returned without a SIM card”. Then this other incident on the Allées Jean-Jaurès with a virulent individual “who has not been identified but who was perhaps linked with those in the bar”. Then Mathis fled.
“The last time I saw him, he was hiding behind a trash can, next to the Burger King on the other side of the boulevard. Afterwards I lost sight of him,” confides Ambre, who cannot erase these last minutes.
The overlooked danger of the melter
His escape took him to the nearby Victor-Hugo market, whose gates had just opened at 4:30 a.m. “How did he end up behind that smelter door?” Why was it open? How can we explain the absence of any warning of the danger posed by this equipment? Are we the only ones asking ourselves these questions? », insists the mother.
Also read:
20-year-old died in an ice machine in Toulouse: the memory of Mathis, aka “La Mouche”, saluted by his rugby club
A mother frustrated by the silence of the Toulouse town hall “who did not even consider it useful to send condolences” and the attitude of the traders “who, that morning, opened their stalls as if nothing was happening had passed.” Above all, this woman and her family wonder about the work of justice. “Abandoned? Above all, we have the feeling of having been forgotten! » And André, a bruised grandfather, adds: “It's not because we are small people, low class, that we don't have the right to answers! »
