Government spokesman Olivier Véran reacted to the beating of a teenager in Roanne. The latter, suspected of sexual assault on a 6-year-old girl, was beaten by the father of the latter. “What I can tell you as government spokesperson is my deep conviction that the rule of law must take precedence and that we do not want to return to this model of society where people would take the law into their own hands”
“The rule of law must take precedence,” said government spokesman Olivier Véran on Wednesday, when asked about a father who beat up a teenager in Roanne (Loire) whom he accused of sexually assaulting her six-year-old daughter. “Obviously, we understand the emotion of this father: how would we act in place of this person, it is difficult to say”, replied Olivier Véran during a report from the Council of Ministers.
“We do not want to fit into this model of society”
“What I can tell you as government spokesperson is my deep conviction that the rule of law must take precedence and that we do not want to return to this model of society where people would take the law into their own hands” , he immediately nuanced. He recalled the new means provided for in the draft budget for 2023: 1,500 creation of places in prison, 3,000 additional police and gendarmes during the five-year term and doubling of the number of magistrates, clerks and bailiffs. The 16-year-old was charged with sexual assault and jailed on Sunday.
The girl’s father, helped by three neighbors and friends who had set up surveillance after the attack the previous night, had arrested him on the night of Friday to Saturday. “They beat him up, causing him a total interruption of work (ITT) for 10 days, before calling the police,” lamented Monday to AFP the public prosecutor of Roanne, Abdelkrim Grini.