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French police probe rape of two English women in Nice

Two young English women, aged 16 and 20, had a nightmare ordeal in the French Riviera city of Nice at the weekend when they were raped by two men.

Published: 4 July 2016 10:38 CEST
French police probe rape of two English women in Nice
The centre of Nice. Photo: Jean-Pierre Dalbera/Flickr

Two English women, aged 16 and 20, told French police they had been raped by two men in the centre of Nice in the early hours of Saturday morning.

The two friends, who were on holiday in the Mediterranean resort town said they had left a bar in the old town of Nice at around 2am on Saturday morning, according to Nice Matin newspaper which first reported the crime.

The two tourists then headed towards the beach along the Promenade des Anglais where they met two men.

After agreeing to go for a drink with the two men, the four headed off towards the old town.

But on Rue de Belgique (see photo above), near the train station, the two women were pushed into a corner and sexually assaulted.

The two victims went directly to police and reported the crimes who opened an investigation into suspected gang rape. Police studied CCTV images of the area and later on Saturday morning arrested two drunk men in the area.

However one was released without charge while the other was taken into custody after allegedly insulting police officers.

Police are looking for any witnesses to the incident and have carried out medical examinations on the two victims.

A spokesman for police in Nice declined to give any further details of the incident but confirmed an investigation has been opened for gang rape.

The spokesman confirmed that two women were tourists and were staying in a hotel in the town centre.

A spokeswoman for the British Embassy in Paris confirmed to The Local that they were providing support to two British nationals in Nice “and will remain in close contact with local authorities”. 

 

 

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CRIME

French teen dies from heart failure after knife attack near school

A 14-year-old girl has died of a heart attack in eastern France after her school locked down to protect itself from a knife attacker who lightly wounded two other girls, an official said on Friday.

Published: 20 April 2024 08:58 CEST
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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