“A child devoured by illness”: what will become of the schoolgirls of Fabrègues’ crimes, when the investigation is over ?

La cour d'appel de Montpellier vient de rendre une importante décision à huis clos. MIDI LIBRE – François Barrère

Le 14 mars 2022, près de Montpellier, les deux jeunes filles de 13 ans s'en étaient prises à la famille de Léa : son père avait été tué, sa mère et l'une de ses petites sœurs grièvement blessées. 

The crimes had left their mark on people's minds, as they were so difficult to understand. Nearly two years after the terrible tragedy experienced by a family from Fabrègues, near Montpellier, the judicial investigation opened for "assassination and attempted assassinations" is now completed, and the legal fate of Léa and Amélie* is being sealed.

A true horror film

On March 14, 2022, the two 13-year-old girls turned an ordinary Sunday into a terrible horror film. Léa, apparently with the consent of Amélie, who had come to spend the weekend at her house, had suddenly taken action, bringing to fruition in blood a project fomented since for a long time in the secrecy of his room and conversations with his girlfriend. With a knife taken from the kitchen after the Sunday meal, she fatally stabbed her 43-year-old father, then seriously injured her 8-year-old little sister and her mother. The two teenagers then hitchhiked to Gard, where they were arrested at Amélie's home.

An irrational act

The investigating judge quickly focused on the motive for this action which seemed irrational, in this family without  particular identifiable problem. And it was the psychiatrists who provided the answer, after having assessed the two young girls, who were in a romantic relationship and were fascinated by horror videos on the internet, called " Creepy Pasta, where fictional characters and morbid scenarios mingle.

Also read: Killing in a family in Fabrègues: "It’s a gulf of incomprehension" says the lawyer of Amélie, 13 years old

Delusional process and hallucinatory injunctions

The three experts who examined Léa concluded that at the time of the events she was under the influence "of' a delusional process" and "of hallucinatory injunctions", caused by a psychosis, probably "very early onset schizophrenia". Hence the decision rendered Thursday, January 18 by the investigating chamber of the Court of Appeal, which found his criminal irresponsibility, his discernment having been abolished during the events by illness mental.

Incarcerated for six months

"Léa was incarcerated for six months, then admitted to a specialized psychiatric center. She has since been fully hospitalized, explains her lawyer, President Iris Christol. The court considered that due to her mental disorder, she was not subject to criminal punishment. The expert reports show that she had a psychotic disorder evolving quietly, and of which the act was the spectacular symptom. The court ordered complete hospitalization, which means that we ensure long-term monitoring of his illness, with a care program without consent, and very regular monitoring by a psychiatrist who may, in the event of a deterioration in her mental state, have her hospitalized again. It is a very valuable device for these mental illnesses that we treat, but from which we cannot cure."

"No positive act of complicity"

For Amélie, on the other hand, the experts did not detect any mental disorder: her criminal responsibility is therefore complete. But will she be tried for complicity in assassination and attempts, as the investigating judge wishes ?

"I contest this reading of the file" insists his lawyer, Me Cyril Malgras. "She has not accomplished any positive act, she is criticized for having said: "go ahead, do it" to Léa, but this had no impact on what happened, since Léa was then only responding to hallucinatory injunctions. You can't talk to someone who can't hear you."

A united educational team

The lawyer has appealed to the Court of Appeal, and hopes that all charges against Amélie will soon be dropped. "She was the privileged witness of a drama which still unfolds every night before her eyes, and which has overtaken her.& quot; After spending six months in prison, then in a closed educational center, "she is still in the hands of the educational services. She is transformed, she was a young girl who had difficulty coping with her adolescence, and who has now found herself, thanks to a very united educational team around ;she."

For Léa's family, marked by the murder of the father by his daughter, and by the aggression of the mother and her sister, the challenge is quite different. 

"We must remain a family, measuring the extent to which this act is due to illness, and not to the will of our child . And manage to find the child who was devoured by the disease. There are exceptional people capable of making this journey. This is the case of this family", assures Me Iris Christol.

* First names changed to respect the anonymity due to minors