Lucas’ mother spoke in the columns of Vosges Matin this Saturday, January 28. Her 13-year-old son committed suicide in early January.
The suicide of 13-year-old Lucas has shocked the French. The teenager ended his life on January 7, in Golbey, in the Vosges. Quickly, his parents had claimed that he had been harassed for several months because of his homosexuality. This Saturday, January 28, it is in the columns of Morning Vosges that her mother, Séverine, wished to speak for the first time. “You have to be free. You have to love yourself. We must live“, she first said before calling on victims of harassment to “to speak“Three weeks after the terrible tragedy, Lucas’ mother wants to send an important message.”We are all different and we all have the right to be as we are.she says before continuing:Talk it over ! Don’t be afraid, talk to anyone! You have to free yourself. Don’t take it as a fault. Let them live as they wish. Let them live as they please“. Determined to be heard, she then adds that there is “an attentive ear, always someone who can help, family, friends, a psychologist, the police… Do not fear reprisals“. Beyond the harassment that some people may be victims of, Séverine confides that everyone is free to live as they wish. “To be free as we are, free as we want and regardless of the way others look. You have to be free. You have to love yourself. We must live“, recalls Lucas’s mother before insisting: “We must keep this hope to tell ourselves that in life we do what we want, we are as we want and we are who we want, that’s all“. Very important lyrics.
The investigation continues regarding the suicide of Lucas. Frédéric Nahon, the public prosecutor first revealed the causes of the death of the teenager on January 13th. “The observations made and the autopsy carried out at the Forensic Institute of Nancy, allowed to establish the thesis of a suicide by hanging”, he had explained before specifying: “He had left a note in a diary explaining his desire to end his life. An investigation in which Séverine does not “don’t want to interfere”, also stating that she “wait for justice to be done“especially regarding the people who harassed his child.”That they recognize their wrongs and above all that something is done so that they do not start again“, she said. Séverine is determined to talk to them so that they understand the seriousness of their actions. “We would like them to eventually intervene in actions that we could carry out so that they do their mea culpa“, she continued before adding: “Show harassers the scope of their actions and make them understand the penalties that are incurred, all that they risk as harassers, all that is risked as harassed“. As a reminder, Lucas’ relatives had alerted National Education to the harassment endured by Lucas but no complaint has been filed. In December 2021, the deputies passed a law indicating that an offense of bullying at school is punishable by ten years imprisonment and a fine of 150,000 euros when the facts lead to the victim’s suicide or attempted suicide.
Suicide of Lucas: why were four of his classmates indicted?
Since Lucas’ suicide, his relatives have constantly spoken of the harassment he has been the victim of. Thus, four classmates were indicted. They’re going to be sent back to court for “school bullying leading to suicide“, said Frédéric Nahon on January 27. The public prosecutor then clarified what prompted the investigators to make this decision: “During their hearings, the respondents, two girls and two boys, educated in the same establishment as Lucas, only admitted to having repeatedly made fun of their comrade“. A harassment taken very seriously and which would be at the origin of the suicide of the teenager. Invited on the antenna of BFMTV this Saturday January 28, the lawyer of one of the defendants took the floor. “He … not absolutely does not admit having harassed his comrade. He is accused of acts of harassment, he strongly denies having said or committed any harassment whatsoever against Lucas”said Béatrice Founès.