The harassment suffered by Lucas “could participate in the passage to the suicidal act” of the young man.
Four 13-year-old minors will be “tried for school harassment leading to the suicide” of young Lucas, a teenager of the same age who ended his life in early January in Golbey (Vosges). Those close to Lucas believe that he committed suicide after being harassed because of his homosexuality.
Béatrice Founès is the lawyer for one of the four minors involved in this case. Aged 13, he was in the same class as Lucas. She assures on BFMTV this Saturday that her client “absolutely does not recognize having harassed his comrade”.
In a press release on Friday, the public prosecutor of Epinal, Frédéric Nahon, wrote all the same that “during their hearings, the defendants, two girls and two boys aged 13, educated in the same establishment as Lucas , only admitted to having repeatedly made fun of their comrade”.
He is “accused of acts of harassment, he quite firmly denies having said or committed any harassment whatsoever against Lucas”, recalls Béatrice Founès.
“We must let the police and the justice system work as calmly as possible”
The lawyer explains that a “judge was seized, the children’s judge, to assess the situation and in particular to see if acts of harassment can be reproached”. But she also points out that there can “be a dismissal, release decision” for her client and that “like his comrades he benefits from the presumption of innocence”.
“The suicide of a young person is dramatic, it’s complex, it can be multifactorial, there may be other elements. We must let the police and the justice system work as calmly as possible”, declares- she.
According to the prosecutor, “the facts took place from September 2022 to the beginning of January 2023”, and the investigation “established that the harassment could have participated in the passage to the suicidal act of young Lucas” .
