On Wednesday morning, the police custody measure was extended, confirmed the Bordeaux prosecutor’s office, giving the police officers of the departmental family protection unit a little more time to determine the chronology and the context of this criminal act. The criminal qualification initially adopted was reclassified as an offense of willful violence against a minor aged 15 with total incapacity for work of less than eight days per ascendant and with a weapon.
The facts took place around 10 a.m., at the reception of the annex town hall of Cenon. A young woman had an appointment to carry out administrative procedures. Her baby was with her. She was followed by the father from whom she has been separated since last summer, before the birth of the child.
A psychological cell within the annex town hall
According to the first elements and testimonies collected, the man managed to snatch the child from his mother’s arms. Then, taking a cord out of his bag, he allegedly threatened to strangle the little one before putting it around his neck. The scene was shocking enough for a psychological cell to be set up for the municipal officers present. The public place, closed on Wednesday, should also be closed on Thursday. “The father held the child suspended by the rope for only a few seconds but it upset everyone,” says the mayor of Cenon Jean-François Egron.
According to the elected official, “two fellow citizens”, witnesses of the scene, then intervened to prevent the tragedy and save the baby. Jumping on the father, they subdued him before calling law enforcement. Officers from the Cenonnaise municipal police then intervened to arrest the individual. Eventually injured in the foot in the stampede, the infant was taken to Pellegrin Hospital with his mother. He must be submitted to examinations useful to the investigation at the Emergency Center for victims of aggression. Total incapacity for work (ITT) was set at one day.
“We have a thought for the mother and her baby of course, but also for all the municipal agents who have been confronted with this ordeal”, insists the socialist councilor Jean-François Egron, deploring an act “which tarnishes the image of a city that is nevertheless united and that has nothing to do with the work that we can accomplish here”.
Did the father fear that the mother would go back to Algeria with the child but without him? Did he ruminate over sleeping in a car and not finding a way out of his irregular administrative situation? Did he want to attack the child to reach the mother? Was he planning a desperate move for himself and his child? So many questions that the survey will have to answer.