“Without the girl’s appeal, the outcome could have been fatal.” Saturday February 24, 2024, as reported by BFMTV, a tragedy was narrowly avoided in an apartment in Bondy, in Seine-Saint-Denis. Around 10 p.m., the police received a disturbing call: “Good evening, my mom gets beaten by my dad. In the face. He also has a knife. I’m very scared…” On the camera, a little girl aged just 8 years old, witnessing a scene of domestic violence between her parents. She saw her father pull her mother’s hair, hit her in the face and threaten her with a knife. When the police arrived on site, the man, clearly drunk, “was getting ready to leave”. “The police officers froze the situation by keeping him there and, upon noting that the violence was proven, proceeded with the arrest”, explains Éric Couvreat, member of the SGP Police Unit 93 union, to the camera of our colleagues. He knows it, “without the young girl’s call, the outcome could have been fatal” for the victim.
Residents salute the little girl’s “courage”
This intervention by the little girl therefore allowed the suspect to be arrested and placed in police custody, and probably to save the life of this mother, already a victim on several occasions of the violence of her partner. If he is not known to the police for this type of incident, certain neighbors can attest to this behavior. “This scene often recurs on weekends. He has drinking problems, so as soon as he drinks, he is violent”, explained a witness to BFMTV. In Bondy, several residents were keen to salute the heroism of this little 8-year-old girl, who did not hesitate to denounce her father to protect her mother. “I’m proud of her because she had the courage to do itand many do not have the courage to do it because they are afraid”, deplores a local resident. “In our apartments, the doors are closed on many things. And fortunately the little one was there. Can you imagine if she had gone out, or at school? The drama was going to happen”adds another.
According to the latest government study on violent deaths within the couplecarried out in 2022, “129 children became orphans of father, mother, or both parents consecutively to 57 cases”. 29 of them were present at the crime scene, and 22 even directly witnessed the facts. This still represents 18% of cases. And in 11 of these feminicides, “it was one of the children who raised the alarm or called for help”. However, we do not know how many children made it possible to prevent such a tragedy and save the life of their mother – or their father in a minority of cases, 86% of victims of domestic violence being women – by calling on themselves. even the police, like this little girl in Bondy.