European newspapers are decrying the French system of justice after a 17 year old boy raped, murdered and burned the body of a 13 year old boarding-school girl. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the boy had been held for the rape of another girl just last year, but officials decided it would be best if he were remanded to his parent’s custody.
The girl, Agnes Marin was a student at the College-lycee Cevenol International in central France; her charred body was found just days ago, and it was clear from the evidence that she’d been both severely beaten and raped. The boy, known only as Mathieu, has told police that he was responsible for the crime. But what people all over Europe want to know is, why would the legal system allow the boy to attend school when he has a history of abusing girls?
What appears to make matters even worse is the location of the crime, situated in the heart of Le-Chambon-sur-Lignon, an area famous for having protected French Jews from the Holocaust in WWII.
Parents, townspeople, and a growing chorus of news editors all across Europe are demanding to know whether the school knew of the boy’s history, and if so, why they allowed him to attend. But more importantly, they want to know why the government isn’t protecting its citizens from one another in such cases where there is clearly a danger. France’s President, Nicolas Sarkozy just recently introduced a slate of new laws that would have applied to just such a circumstance, but unfortunately for Agnes Marin, time ran short before the legislature acted.
As it stands now, the parents are blaming the school, and the school, whose motto is ironically, “humanism and tolerance” is blaming the judicial system, which infuriates those watching from afar, as finger pointing has rarely solved much of anything.
The boy, described by most as a brilliant last year student said he took the girl into the woods where he raped and killed her then set fire to her body. Thus far, he has not apparently given a motive, though it appears clear that he is a very angry young man. He’d spent just four months in jail for raping another girl last year.
The state meanwhile maintains that it did everything by the book; they boy was forced to undergo treatment by a psychiatrist and was under as strict supervision as the law allows. Such statements of course only serve to further enflame the population as it becomes obvious that what the law allows, clearly isn’t enough.