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Thirteen firemen detained in gang rape inquiry

Thirteen firefighters have been detained after a younger recruit alleges he was raped by colleagues in a packed bus.

Published: 11 May 2012 10:48 CEST

A 23-year-old recruit says he was raped by his colleagues during a hazing ritual that turned brutal, news portal France Soir reports. The victim, who belongs to the prestigious Paris firefighters’ brigade, says his colleagues attacked him in front of witnesses in a packed bus.

The recent recruit says he was called to the back of the bus where he was forced to take part in an abusive hazing ritual. In a complaint to the police, he said his abusers slapped his buttocks, pressed him to the ground before raping him with a plastic bottle.

The alleged assault took place in a bus that was carrying thirty firefighters back from a gymnastics competition in the town of Colmar. The assault has reportedly been filmed on a mobile phone.

In an interview with the newswire AFP, the spokesperson representing Paris firefighters Pascal Le Testu refused to comment on the incident and says two investigations are underway.

The young recruit has lodged a complaint for gang rape and assault.

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French teen dies from heart failure after knife attack near school

The teenager “was rescued by teachers who were very fast to call the fire department. She died at the end of the afternoon,” education official Olivier Faron said.

The girl’s middle school in the village of Souffelweyersheim closed its doors on Thursday afternoon after a man stabbed two other girls aged 7 and 11 outside a nearby primary facility.

“Sadly this pupil underwent an episode of very high stress that led to a heart attack,” Faron said.

A mother outside the middle school on Friday morning said her son in first year of secondary had also been scared during the lockdown the previous day.

“Whereas in the primary school they made it more like a game, perhaps here it was a little too direct,” Deborah Wendling said.

“He thought there was an armed person in the school. They could hear doors slamming, but in fact it was just other classrooms locking down.”

Faron defended the teachers.

READ ALSO: Schoolgirl threatens teacher with knife as tensions rise in French schools

“There is no perfect solution,” he said.

But “we will analyse in depth what happened. If there are lessons to be taken from this, we will take them.”

The two girls hurt in the attack were discharged from hospital on Thursday evening with only light wounds.

Police have arrested the 30-year-old assailant, and a probe has been opened into “attempted murder of minors”, the prosecutor’s office said.

It was not immediately clear what had motivated him, but it did not appear to be “a terrorist act”, it said.

He was “psychiatrically fragile” and appeared to have stopped his medication.

The incident follows a series of attacks on schoolchildren by their peers, in particularly the fatal beating earlier this month of Shemseddine, 15, outside Paris.

French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal on Thursday announced measures to crack down on teenage violence in and around schools.

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