the essential
The nine suspects in police custody for the death of Thomas, 16, killed at the Crépol ball in Drôme a week ago will be presented to the prosecution this Saturday afternoon. The profile of the main suspect is becoming clearer.
At the end of 96 hours in police custody, the nine suspects arrested for the death of Thomas, 16, a week ago at the ball in the village of Crépol in Drôme, will be brought before the Valence prosecutor’s office this Saturday afternoon. . The prosecution is preparing to open a criminal investigation.
Among the nine suspects, one young person stands out. Chaïd A. is 20 years old. He was “formally designated as the author of the fatal stabbing attack”, indicates the public prosecutor of Valence Laurent de Caigny. The young man formally denied this in police custody. The suspect, who attended a vocational high school, does not have a permanent job. He lives with his mother in an apartment in Romans-sur-Isère.
Chaïd A. was already known to the courts for petty theft. In the past, he has already been fined 250 euros for concealment of theft and a fine of 200 euros for being arrested in the street with a knife on him.
On a daily basis, Chaïd A. “hangs out at La Monnaie with a gang of around thirty young people”, explain the inhabitants of this district of Romans-sur-Isère to Figaro. “They play into the hands of the two big drug traffickers in the neighborhood. »
The main suspect did not know Thomas, the 16-year-old killed. To explain the fight, the suspects evoke a provocation. A friend of Thomas could have approached Chaïd A.’s group a week ago at the Crépol village hall, pulling her hair and calling her “chiquita” (little girl), in reference to a song “Tchikita” by rapper Jul, specifies the Parisian. In addition to Thomas’ death, the violence left 8 injured, including 2 young people aged 28 and 23 who were hospitalized in serious condition.
Minors and adults
Besides Chaïd A, the other suspects in the teenager’s murder are three minors over the age of 16 and five young adults aged 19 to 22. Some are already known to the courts. The most serious conviction concerns a 21-year-old young person sentenced to 2 years in prison for aggravated violence. The group was arrested on Tuesday in the west of Toulouse after spending the night in a hotel. He seemed to want to go to Spain.
Read also:
EXCLUSIVE. Murder of Thomas in Crépol: hideout in a Toulouse hotel, forgotten cell phone, cannabis… how the fugitives hid
More than 2000 people for the funeral
Thomas’ funeral was celebrated on Friday in the Drôme in Saint-Donnat-sur-l’Herbasse. They brought together more than 2,000 people, with serious faces and in deep silence to pay their last respects to the teenager. Several relatives spoke, including his grandfather: “Thomas was a good boy, reserved, well-mannered and helpful” who “enjoyed life to the fullest”, loved “skiing, rugby and fishing”, explained the old man. But “a gang of thugs who had a knife instead of his heart took his life”, plunging the family “into indescribable sadness”. “I am impatiently awaiting the verdict of justice” but “it will never give me back my Thomas,” he declared before bursting into tears.
Tribute on the rugby fields
A final tribute will be paid to Thomas in the form of a minute of silence during the rugby matches this weekend, a sport he played within the RCRP club (Rugby club romanais péagois).
gn france
