A 13-year-old boy killed himself on Saturday January 7. He was the victim of insults and harassment because of his sexual orientation.
Can the death of Lucas generate a start and an awareness at the height of the drama? This is apparently what the Minister of National Education wants to believe, who was moved by the suicide of the young boy, aged 13, who was subjected to acts of harassment in his college, in Golbey, in the Vosges, near Epinal. “All my thoughts are with Lucas. […] I think of all the students like him who are harassed: their despair is the basis of my determination to prevent all forms of harassment. No child should find suicide as the ultimate outcome”, he wrote on Twitter. Remember that Emmanuel Macron assured that the fight against school bullying was one of the priority causes of his five-year term.
All my thoughts go out to Lucas, a student at L. Armand College in Golbey, his family and his friends. I think of all the students like him who are harassed: their despair is the basis of my determination to prevent all forms of harassment. No child should end up with suicide.
— Pap Ndiaye (@PapNdiaye) January 12, 2023
The death of a child is unbearable. So when he kills himself because of homophobic bullying, the anger adds to the horror.
It is unacceptable.
All my support to the loved ones of the young #Lucas#StopHarassment— Marlene Schiappa (@MarleneSchiappa) January 12, 2023
An investigation opened after the suicide of Lucas
An investigation, entrusted to the Epinal police station, has been opened to establish whether the malicious acts, of which the young boy was the victim, are indeed the cause of the suicide. An autopsy has already been performed on the teenager at the Forensic Institute of Nancy. This confirmed that he had killed himself. As reported in particular BFM, Lucas’ family intends to file a complaint. “There is a whole series of chains of responsibility which can be sought and engaged if, in fact, the elements of an offense have been constituted”, explains Me Catherine Faivre, the family lawyer, whose regional daily newspaper reports. echoes.
A kitty to finance the funeral of Lucas
While the funeral of young Lucas is announced for Saturday January 14, 2023 in Epinal, an online kitty has been opened to raise funds to finance them. On Leetchi, we can thus read: “Today, we are setting up this kitty to support parents and family in this painful ordeal. Your donations will be used to have a funeral worthy of the love we have for Lucas. Thursday, early evening, just over 7,500 euros had been raised. For Lucas’ funeral, his parents invite those present to wear an LGBT sign in tribute to their son.
Acts of harassment already denounced in the past
The public prosecutor, Frédéric Nahon, said in a press release that Lucas’ parents had denounced “acts of harassment committed by students at his college, because of his homosexuality, for several months”. The facts “had been reported to the National Education, which had received the minors” concerned, even added the prosecutor.
Elements confirmed by Valérie Dautreme, academic director of the national education services in the Vosges, who expressed her emotion to France Blue Lorraine. She tells our colleagues that she was alerted to the “mockery” linked to the teenager’s homosexuality, in September, during a parent-teacher meeting: “The situation was taken very seriously by the establishment, by the head teacher,” she said, adding that she thought “things worked out.” “When there was the second parent-teacher meeting at the end of last year, the mother and Lucas said that things were going better and that Lucas was fine,” said Valérie Dautreme in The Parisian.