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5 months ago
24
The boyfriend of a 12-year-old Jewish schoolgirl gang raped in Paris was sent a video showing her sobbing during the ordeal, it has emerged.
It follows two 13-year-olds being charged with carrying out the brutal attack and making threats to kill the girl.
She was allegedly taken to a derelict building in La Défense, the financial district in Courbevoie, the western suburb of the French capital, and attacked repeatedly last Saturday.
None of the children involved in the allegedly anti-Semitic crime can be named for legal reasons, but friends of the girl have offered disturbing details.
An adult who knows the victim well said: 'She has a boyfriend who received a video of the gang rape on his phone.
'There was just one message written next to the video – 'Look at your girlfriend".'
The girl from Courbevoie, in the Hauts-de-Seine suburb northwest of the French capital, told police that she had been raped last weekend. She said she went to the Henri Regnault square (pictured) with her boyfriend when three teenagers grabbed her and took her to an abandoned hangar on the site of an old nursery nearby
The girl could be seen crying in the video, and at least one of the three attackers was known to the boyfriend, said the source.
Two boys have been indicted for 'gang rape, death threats, and insults and violence of an anti-Semitic nature'.
Nanterre prosecutors have indicated that – if found guilty – they face a maximum sentence of 10 years in a youth section of an adult prison.
This represents half of what an adult successful prosecuted for gang rape would face, and would certainly mean that the boys spend the rest of their childhood behind bars.
The third suspect, aged 12, was given the status of 'witness to rape,' while also being charged with connected offences.
He is under the age of criminal responsibily – 13 – and so if found guilty will solely have to undergo 'surveillance in a selected educational institution', said a prosecuting source.
According to details of the case widely reported in France, one of the attackers was the girl's ex-boyfriend.
An investigating source said: 'The girl went out with her parents' permission on Saturday at 3 p.m. to meet her current boyfriend.
'She was approached by two teenagers and dragged by force into a shed connected to a disused nursery, as she was returning home through a park near her parents' house in a tower block in La Défense.
'A third minor then joined them, and insulted the young girl about her religion, calling her a dirty Jew.'
According to the girl's initial witness statement, she was beaten, thrown to the ground, and photographed using mobile phones.
The boys allegedly said they would use the images to blackmail her, before saying they would burn her, while placing a lighter by her face.
People attend a demonstration against anti-Semitism in front of Paris City Hall after three teenagers aged 12 to 13 indicted in Courbevoie, accused of rape and anti-Semitic violence against a 12-year-old girl, in Paris on Wednesday. Slogan reads: 'It could have been your sister'
Various sex acts were then performed on the girl, and she was told she 'would be killed' if she spoke to police.
One of the attackers is said to have asked the girl to return the next day to give him 200 euros – about £170 – as part of a blackmail plot.
Initially abandoned in the shed by the attackers, the teenager then returned home and told her parents what had happened.
A gynecological examination confirmed the girl had been repeatedly raped, and soon afterwards the accused were arrested.
According to further reports in the French media, the boys all come from the neighbouring suburb of Rueil-Malmaison.
It is alleged that the ex-boyfriend was angry that the victim hid her Jewishness from him, and that she had a negative opinion of Palestinians.
Anti-Semitic images found on the boy's phone are said to have included a burning Israeli flag.
Protesters hold placards which read "Anti-Semitism is not residual", "+1000% in anti-Semitic acts, these aren't just figures", "Our lives are worth more than the imported conflict" and "Raped Jewish girl, Republic in danger" as they gathered to condemn the alleged anti-semitic gang rape of a 12 year-old girl, during a rally on Lyon Terreaux square in Lyon, central eastern France, on Wednesday
Members of France's Jewish community – the largest in western Europe – expressed horror about the attack.
Haïm Korsia, the country's Chief Rabbi, said he was 'horrified' and that 'no-one should be pardoned in the face of this unprecedented wave of anti-Semitism.'
Jacques Kossowski, the major of Courbevoie – which covers La Défense – condemned 'an abject act' and called for those responsible to be punished 'whatever their age.'
Anti-Semitic acts in France increased three-fold in the first months of 2024, compared to the same period a year ago, according to official figures, with the Israel-Hamas war blamed.
President Emmanuel Macron has told France's parliament that more must be done to combat anti-Semitism in schools
Of the 1,676 anti-Semitic acts recorded in 2023, 12.7 per cent took place in schools.
President Emmanuel Macron told parliament that more must be done to combat anti-Semitism in schools.
Macron 'spoke solemnly and seriously about the 'scourge of anti-Semitism' in a cabinet meeting, calling for 'dialogue' about racism and hatred of Jews in schools to prevent 'hateful speech with serious consequences' from 'infiltrating' classrooms, a government source told AFP.
Far-right figurehead Marine Le Pen, whose National Rally party is tipped to make major gains in the election, slammed the 'extreme left' for 'stigmatising Jewish people' since the Israel-Hamas war started.
Meanwhile, Jean-Luc Melenchon, head of the hard left France Unbowed (LFI) party, who has been accused of minimising the importance of anti-Jewish attacks, condemned 'anti-Semitic racism'.
Courbevoie's centre-right mayor Jacques Kossowski condemned what he called 'an abject act' and called for the perpetrators to be met with the full force of the law 'whatever their age.'
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