Death of Thomas in Crépol: update on the investigation, one year after the tragedy

A year later, many questions remain unanswered. On November 19, 2023, the “winter ball” in Crépol, in Drôme Provençale, degenerated with clashes between young people who had arrived during the evening and a group of locals. In a confusing context, the first ones take out knives and seriously injure four people, including Thomas, a 16-year-old high school student who loves rugby, who dies in the ambulance. The issue immediately ignites the political class, with the right and the far right seizing the subject to denounce growing insecurity in the countryside, coming according to them from sensitive suburbs.

Investigators quickly made the first arrests. Others will follow in March 2024. In total, 14 people, including three minors, are indicted for “intentional homicide and attempted intentional homicide in an organized group “. Nine suspects are still in pre-trial detention, the TF1 police-justice service learned from reliable sources. “There are 14 indicted, but not 14 murderers”, summarizes Maître Elise Rey-Jacquot, who defends two men with her colleague Bilel Hakkar. She defends the scenario of a “prom fight that escalates, not an organized, planned, racist attack”.

The accused deny their responsibility

In one year, despite hearing from around a hundred witnesses and the existence of videos, investigators have still not been certain of the author of the fatal blow. All the accused, now aged 18 to 22, deny their responsibility, even if suspicions focus on two or three of them, according to a source close to the case. The defendants say they knew nothing about the presence of bladed weapons, only one of them admitted to having picked up a knife, which he waved to defend himself, but not to attack. Their positions are opposed, they do not all say that they knew each other and that they organized themselves. Some even contest their presence, but for the civil parties, they were organized and all left together. Several elements are still being analyzed, including videos still being used.

It is always difficult, in a single scene of violence, to identify a stabbing perpetrator, in the face of people who do not always want to speak.

Master Denis Dreyfus

Thomas’ family, received this week by the two investigating judges with other victims, is ready to wait the time necessary for the investigations, according to their lawyer, Maître Alexandre Farelly. They have “trust” in justice and demonstrate “patience”. “If we want it to be rendered qualitatively, we must give it this time”explains the lawyer to AFP. “It’s an ordinary family, faced with something that is beyond them. And they manage to remain dignified”he emphasizes. “It is always difficult, in a unique scene of violence, to identify a perpetrator of a stabbing, in the face of people who do not always want to speak”note for his part Maître Denis Dreyfus. The lawyer is preparing to represent several victims, including the ball organizing committee and young people injured during the evening. Some “had not yet found the strength” to undertake the process of filing a civil suit after “a traumatic scene”he notes.

A tragedy exploited by the ultra-right

Almost a year later, tragedy struck again at the rugby club where Thomas played: Nicolas Dumas, 22, was shot and killed outside an Ardèche nightclub on Halloween night. A “act of intimidation” which would have gone wrong, according to justice. “There was a certain form of acceptance and “live with” which had been established” within the club, confides Tristan Tardy, one of the leaders of RC Romans-Péage. “I fear that we are being plunged back into a psychologically complicated period for many young people…”

For all the protagonists, it was also necessary to manage the media and political echo of the affair, invading the feeds of social networks, but also the streets, with rallies of the ultra-right “for Thomas” in several cities. A demonstration resembling a punitive expedition even took place in Romans-sur-Isère, in the Monnaie district, where some of the suspects came from. While the drama was still on everyone’s mind, Crépol placed RN candidate Thibaut Monnier in the lead in the first round of the early legislative elections. He went on to win the constituency.

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Two identity associations attempted to become civil parties, without success, AFP learned from corroborating sources. To justify their action, they relied on the words of nine witnesses (out of 104) who say they heard hostile comments “to the whites” the evening of the tragedy. But others “have heard rugby players wanting ‘bang on“ after the arrival of the young people, said Maître Romaric Chateau, the lawyer for one of the suspects, at the time. The prosecution, for lack of evidence to this effect, did not consider aggravating circumstances linked to “race, ethnicity, nation or religion”.