If the death of an 18-year-old girl at the Saint-Nazaire bridge is dramatic, the circumstances remain difficult to understand. According to the first elements that Le Parisien-Today in France reported in its July 3, 2022 edition, the victim’s father was indicted for “murder”. Which means that in addition to being suspected of the death of his child, he would have premeditated his irreparable act.
Selen, eldest daughter of Ozkan T. – a 44-year-old Turkish mason with no criminal record – died after falling from the Loire-Atlantique bridge on June 28. A structure from which fell to a height of sixty meters. According to the daily, the parents of the young woman were affected by the relationship of their child with a young man who allegedly made her fall into drugs and abused her. “About three weeks ago, he opened up cryingly to a neighbor about his eldest daughter’s drug problems“, told the newspaper a resident of the hamlet of Donges in which Selen’s family has lived for four or five years. A home described as uneventful before.
On the day of the tragedy, Ozkan T. picked up his daughter, who would have been under the influence of psychotropic drugs, from her companion. On the way, the father of the family would have made death threats against him, then he would have stopped on the bridge of Saint-Nazaire. “According to several direct testimonies collected by the gendarmes of the Saint-Nazaire research brigade and the Montoir-de-Bretagne brigade, Özkan T. allegedly demanded that his daughter take off her shoes and then cross the barrier of security. Still according to concordant testimonies, he would then have precipitated his fall by pushing her into the void. Özkan T. would have in turn jumped over the same security barrier before being held back by two gendarmes present at the scene by chance“, reports the daily.
“A father who kills his daughter is incredibly violent. The neighbors immediately came to see me, they were moved, shocked. We obviously rely on justice to provide answers“, told France Blue François Chéneau, the mayor of Donges. A version which however diverges from that of the accused. He said he wanted to prevent his daughter from killing herself. According to his lawyer, he denies the facts. Outburst, thoughtful gesture or vain attempt to save his daughter from suicide? The prosecution is continuing its investigations to determine the exact circumstances that led to this tragedy.