Suicide of Lucas: his stalkers responsible for his desperate gesture? The court decided

On January 7, 2023, Lucas, a 13-year-old boy, killed himself after writing a letter, in which he explained his choice to end his life. He had assured that he could no longer support the school harassment of which he had been the target since September 2022. Immediately, the announcement of his suicide was followed by a great wave of emotion. “When a child ends his life, there are no words to say the sorrow, the pain“, had declared the Minister of National Education before adding: “This drama shows how the fight against school bullying must remain a government priority“. Quickly, four college students had been implicated. The children’s court of Épinal then had to estimate if they were guilty of the suicide of the young boy.

Monday, June 5, 2023, the verdict was delivered. They all have the four were found guilty of harassment. But the court found thatthere was no causal link between these facts and the suicide of Lucas. While a next hearing to set their sanctions is set for January 22, 2024, provisional educational measures have been pronounced against the four college students. They face up to 18 months in prison.. The maximum penalty retained for acts of harassment. If they had been convicted of causing the teenager’s suicide, they could have been sentenced to up to 5 years in prison.

Teenagers will know their pain in January 2024

“In view of the analysis of the file and of what was said at the hearing, there remained a doubt in relation to the causality“between the harassment and the desperate gesture of Lucas, then indicated the prosecutor of Épinal, Frédéric Nahon, at the time of the hearing which was held behind closed doors on April 3, 2023.