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Girl, 14, left in coma after attack by teenagers outside school in France
Three minors have been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after incident in Montpellier
Agence France-Presse in Montpellier
Thu 4 Apr 2024 13.16 EDT
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The French government has launched an urgent investigation after a 14-year-old girl was severely wounded and left in a coma after being beaten outside her school by three other teenagers in the south of France.
The three alleged attackers, including a girl who was at the same school as the victim in the suburbs of the southern city of Montpellier, have been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder of a minor.
The incident comes at a time of heightened tensions around French schools and after dozens of messages threatening attacks were sent through an internal messaging system.
The victim, named as Samara, had come out of her coma but was “seriously wounded” in the attack on Tuesday afternoon outside Arthur Rimbaud college in the district of La Mosson-La Paillade, prosecutors said.
One of the accused is a girl from the same school, also 14, who was arrested on Wednesday and admits to having beaten the victim, the prosecutors said in a statement on Wednesday. The two other minors arrested are aged 14 and 15.
Nicole Belloubet, the education minister, ordered an investigation by inspectors from her ministry who would have eight working days starting from Friday to report back on the circumstances surrounding the attack. “This mission will aim both to establish the reality of the facts and to establish responsibilities,” she told BFMTV, adding that Samara was owed “the truth”.
