The head of “assassination” is well retained for the investigation into the death of a professor in Saint-Jean-de-Luz. The high school student in question declared during police custody that he had acted on the orders of a “voice […] evil”. Experts have not detected any mental illness but disorders in the teenager.
- Terror in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, a 52-year-old Spanish teacher was stabbed to death by a student in Saint Thomas d’Aquin high school, Wednesday February 22, 2023.
- An investigation for “assassination” was opened after the death of the teacher in Saint-Jean-de-Luz. The charge can still evolve, the public prosecutor must hold a press conference this Thursday, February 23 at the beginning of the afternoon.
- The 16-year-old high school student who committed the knife attack. was arrested and this Thursday morning his police custody was extended by 24 hours.
- The high school student in question would suffer from “proven psychiatric disorders” and would have indicated hearing voices at the time of his acting out. These “evil” voices would have told him that the professor “embodied evil”. The school record of the high school student does not show psychiatric disorders and the teenager is not known to the police.
- A minute of silence was observed this Thursday, February 23, at 3 p.m., in all schools to pay tribute to the teacher who died in the Saint-Jean-de-Luz high school.
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16:02 – The premeditated attack on the teacher the day before by the high school student?
Another element pushes the public prosecutor to go in the direction of a premeditated murder and therefore of an assassination. While in police custody, the high school student said he placed the kitchen knife that was used to kill the teacher in his bag the day before the commission of the facts.
15:57 – Several possible motivations for the murder of the professor in Saint-Jean-de-Luz
During the press conference, the Narbonne public prosecutor listed several motivations that could explain the high school student’s acting out. He cited an animosity of the teenager towards his teacher, an argument which occurred the day before the aggression with a comrade and older facts in particular a harassment which the respondent suffered in his former school. Harassment, if proven, can lead to psychological distress, the prosecutor also specified that in October 2022 the respondent attempted suicide with medication and has since been monitored and treated with anti-depressants.
15:52 – Animity between the high school student and the teacher
The high school student recognized during police custody with animosity towards his Spanish teacher. It should be noted that the young man obtained good grades in all subjects except in the course given by the deceased teacher. Despite the acknowledged animosity, the high school student made no mention of threatening the teacher before the fatal attack.
15:43 – The high school student will be placed in pre-trial detention at the end of police custody
The police custody of the high school student implicated in the “assassination” of the Spanish teacher must end tomorrow morning and at the end of it the Narbonne prosecutor’s office request the placement in pre-trial detention of the teenager.
15:41 – The high school student “accessible to criminal liability”
The more precise portrait and the elements provided by the public prosecutor of Narbonne go in the direction of psychological and/or psychiatric disorders. But the statements of the teenager show that he is aware of what he has done. His first words after the attack on the professor were “I ruined my life, it’s all over” according to the magistrate who indicated that the defendant is “accessible to criminal liability” subject to the next psychiatric expertise.
15:37 – The “assassination” motivated by a “little voice” in the head of the high school student?
The public prosecutor mentioned the “little voice” mentioned by the high school student in question in front of teachers after the attack and during his hearing. The teenager says he has a “little voice that speaks to him, a selfish, manipulative and self-centered being” who suggested he commit an assassination. It is to this small voice that the young man alluded when he spoke of “possession”.
15:34 – The troubles of the respondent specified by the public prosecutor
According to the first conclusions of the doctors who spoke with the high school student in question, the teenager does not present any mental illness such as schizophrenia, manic state or mental retardation. On the other hand, he shows an anxious personality and an element of depression evolving over the past year.
15:29 – A judicial investigation for the head of “premeditated murder”
The public prosecutor of Narbonne, Jérôme Bourrier announced the opening tomorrow of a judicial investigation under the qualification of “premeditated murder”, i.e. an assassination. The investigators must specify the springs of this passage to the act in connection with the personality of the high school student in question.
15:08 – The “time of contemplation” in Saint-Jean-de-Luz and elsewhere
As a preamble to the minute of silence, the Minister of National Education Pap Ndiaye, traveling to a school in Albertville in Savoie, gave a sober speech. “It’s a time of meditation, emotion, solidarity also for this missing professor” in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, he said, adding: “Our thoughts go out to her and her family, her students, her colleagues, all those she knew and who surrounded her”.
15:00 – A minute of silence in all schools
Absolute silence in all schools, at least those open during this holiday period. The minute of silence must pay tribute to Agnès Lassalle, the Spanish teacher stabbed by one of her students.
14:52 – Were there any warning signs of the tragedy in Saint-Jean-de-Luz?
According to the educational community and the Ministry of National Education, “nothing could predict” the tragedy that took place at the private high school of Saint-Jean-de-Luz. However, in the eyes of a psychiatrist, certain signs could have raised the alarm. The psychiatrist at the Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris, Serge Hefez listed some clues in the columns of franceinfo : “He isolated himself a little bit. His comrades found him a bit strange, they found that his behavior had changed and that can actually be warning signs of this type of tragic event.”
14:40 – An attack caused by a delirious puff?
The mental health of the high school student seems fragile and according to Serge Hefez, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst at the Salpêtrière hospital in Paris interviewed by franceinfo, the adolescent’s passage to the act may have been driven by a “delusional burst” which can occur in young people from 16 to 18 years old. “It’s very rare, but it’s quite possible. It does exist! It’s an age where you have acute delusional puffs. You are taken almost from one hour to the next by a delirium that is extremely worrying for you. the person who has the impression of not being themselves anymore, they hear voices, they are possessed by their voices and pursued by demonic powers. In these moments, all acting out is possible”, he popularized.
2:04 p.m. – The prosecutor’s press conference postponed to 3:15 p.m.
The press conference was going to overshadow the national tribute paid to the teacher who died in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, the agenda was then reorganized. The minute of silence will take place at 3 p.m. while the speech of the public prosecutor is postponed to 3:15 p.m.
13:47 – No trace of psychiatric disorders in the high school student’s school file
The hypothesis of psychiatric disorders gains in thickness in the case of Saint-Jean-de-Luz but all the elements do not stick exactly. For example, the school file of the high school student in question does not mention any disorder or support for psychiatric reasons in his former establishment, according to information from BFM TV. The teenager was also not targeted by support for students with disabilities (AESH). The only help he has at school is that of a personalized support plan (PAP) in relation to writing problems.
13:28 – The teacher “embodied evil” according to the voices heard by the high school student
In front of the investigators, the high school student renewed his statements on “voices” he would have heard before stabbing his teacher. These voices would have told him that the teacher “embodied evil” according to a police source with BFM TV. The trail of psychiatric disorders therefore seems to be confirmed, especially since this Thursday morning, during a press briefing, the Minister of Education Pap Ndiaye confirmed: “It is rather towards disorders of a psychiatric nature that we are orients but I do not want to conclude before the investigation has clarified all this”.
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This Wednesday, February 22, 2023, a teacher from Saint-Thomas d’Aquin high school in Saint-Jean-de-Luz (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) was killed by a student, who violently attacked her with a knife, around 10 a.m., in the middle of a Spanish lesson. France Blue Basque Country comes from a testimony that the teenager would have got up in the middle of the lesson, hiding his bladed weapon in a sheet. After blocking the door of the room, he allegedly threw himself on the teacher to stab her, who was hit in the sternum. When the emergency services arrived on the scene, the victim, aged around fifty, was in cardiopulmonary arrest. She died a few minutes later.
It is therefore within the Saint-Thomas d’Aquin high school in Saint-Jean-de-Luz that the tragedy occurred. It is a private Catholic institution under contract which also includes a college. The establishment is located not far from the city center of the town. South West indicates that all entrances to the site have been blocked by the police. There is no longer any danger within the establishment, local media say. A psychological unit has been set up for the students. According to a testimony collected by BFM TV, the establishment is “without history, with very good results, very serious, […] where not a lot usually happens.”
According to the first elements gathered by various media, including theAFP, the assailant is a 16-year-old boy. The public prosecutor of Bayonne, quoted by The Parisian, indicates that the young man is educated in second class and was a student of the teacher killed. He was quickly arrested by the police. At this stage, the reasons that led him to commit this barbaric act are not yet known. The young man is unknown to the precise police services BFM-TV. The news channel claims that “the teenager suffers from psychiatric disorders, and would have said ‘to be possessed’, after his acting out.” The world confirms that the investigation “is oriented towards taking into account possible psychiatric disorders of the perpetrator.” According to information from Opinionthe high school student would have made “weird remarks, a little incoherent”, but “in connection” with his act.
After attacking the teacher, the high school student in question would have gone to a neighboring class and would have given his weapon to a teacher present with whom he would have exchanged a few words. Police sources quoted by various media said that the young man claimed to have “heard voices” telling him that his teacher “embodied evil” and pushed him to attack him. The high school student would have renewed his declarations during his police custody according to other sources close to the file with BFM TV. The Minister of National Education, Pap Ndiaye, confirmed Thursday, February 23 before the press conference of the public prosecutor: It is rather towards psychiatric disorders that we are moving but I do not want to conclude before the investigation has clarified all this”