What really happened on the morning of May 2, 2019 at the Marie-Auxiliatrice Institute of Medicine (DME) in Draveil? This question remains a mystery for the parents of Yanis, a 13-year-old disabled child with West syndrome. Due to her illness, Yanis has difficulty moving and expressing herself. "He has the mental age of a child of 2 and a half years", summarizes his father, Madjid.
On May 2, Yanis' mother Wassina receives a phone call from the IME where her son is registered. He is informed that Yanis was attacked "by another handicapped child" on waking, shortly before 8 am. "They told us that he had a few bruises and scratches, nothing more," says Madjid.
"He was covered in bruises from head to toe"
But the next day, when he picks up Yanis after his week at the IME, Madjid realizes that the injuries are much more serious by lifting his t-shirt. "He was covered in bruises from head to toe," he said. I took him to be examined at the Robert Debré hospital (Paris) on the advice of my attending physician. At the hospital, a doctor noted numerous lesions on the arms, neck, knees, cheekbones and face. As for the child, he seems very frightened when he returns to the IME a few days later.
Upset and taken aback by this outburst of violence, Madjid files a complaint against X on May 7 at the Créteil police station for willful violence. A complaint filed without follow-up in December, to the chagrin of Yanis' parents, who felt that they were "hiding something".
Parents doubt leadership version
Their lawyer, Me Grégory Lévy, is going to file a complaint with constitution of civil party with the dean of the examining magistrates of Evry in order to relaunch the investigation. "I asked the prosecution to justify acts of the preliminary investigation of Créteil, because I think that there were not many", explains Me Levy. This new complaint will be filed against X for aggravated willful violence, failure to prevent an offense and to provide assistance and deprivation of care towards a minor.
Like their lawyer, Yanis' parents doubt that a child could have dealt the blows. And this despite the declarations of the management of the IME, which immediately designated a child with Down's syndrome with behavioral problems as the aggressor of Yanis. "Their bedrooms are opposite, however," note Madjid and Wassina.
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A circular burn on Yanis's foot is particularly intriguing. "I was told he was dragged to the ground, but it looks more like a cigarette burn," Madjid said. Her son is deeply traumatized by the aggression. "Yanis has been constantly ventilating since then, he is very stressed, worries his father. Already that he is handicapped, in addition we make him undergo that? "
Yanis' parents are outraged by management's reaction. They point to a possible lack of surveillance. "If a child really did that, it took a while," says Madjid. My son does not speak, but he can cry or cry. Why did nobody intervene? "
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The phone call the day after the assault also remains across the throat. "They downplayed the facts," said Wassina, Yanis' mother. They neither relieved us nor accompanied us: they stifled the affair ”.
Yanis is now placed in Belgium
The director in office at the time, Laurence Fouqueau, left the IME Marie-Auxiliatrice in January 2020. "Nothing to do with these facts," says Amal Chouitem, his former assistant now director, reached by phone on Thursday . The manager disputed any "stifling" of the case. "The IME team received the parents on the Monday following the facts, we accompanied them and did not minimize the assault on Yanis, who affected us a lot," she explains, while highlighting the "rarity" of this type of facts at the EMI.
The director confirms that that morning, a night porter was still on duty. "At the time of the attack, she was looking after another child and heard the cries," continues Amal Chouitem. Yanis was then examined by a psychiatrist and a general practitioner at the IME. Then we got together to try to understand why the other child was aggressive. Because the director "guarantees" that the aggressor "is a child".
As for Yanis, it has been changed to a specialized establishment. Due to lack of space in France, his parents schooled him in Belgium, from where he returns every two weeks. "It's going very well there," says his father.
