Two years after the assassination of Professor John Dowling, stabbed on December 5, 2018 in front of the Léonard-de-Vinci university center in La Défense, the holding of a trial is unlikely.
The murderer is more likely to spend the rest of his life in a mental hospital.
Based on the diagnosis of two colleges of experts, the examining magistrate has indeed just seized the investigating chamber to establish the criminal irresponsibility of the murderer, Ali R., who suffers from a "paranoid psychosis. with a persecutory theme ”, concluded the first panel of experts.
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His "motivation" would be in "a delusional state".
Therefore, his discernment was "abolished" at the time of the facts, according to the psychiatrists.
And as we do not judge the insane, if the investigating chamber ratifies the criminal irresponsibility of Ali R., it would immediately order his hospitalization.
So-called insults to the prophet
The case will be examined at a public hearing next March.
The magistrates will look into the facts and the guilt of Ali R., the psychiatric experts will present their conclusions.
And the victim's family will be heard as well.
Created by the 2008 law on security detention, this unique hearing is like an ersatz trial that allows victims to hear that the one who will not be tried is indeed the perpetrator.
And to try to understand that, precisely, this one cannot be judged.
Ali R., a former pupil of the Léonard-de-Vinci pole, appeared psychically fragile from his custody in December 2018. But also very worrying.
His crime, this 39-year-old Pakistinese justified by his desire to avenge the prophet, insulted by John Dowling in class according to his statements.
The teacher was "against Islam", presented "an insulting drawing" to the place of the prophet, "a photo between a man and a woman which is not natural", assured Ali R. in front of the investigators and the judge.
He therefore acted to “defend [his] prophet.
"
John Dowling / DR
Except that this drawing story and the alleged comments seem to have come straight out of his imagination.
They were never confirmed during the investigation.
No more than the radicalization of Ali R., even if the latter has at times required "a Muslim lawyer, and not a woman" to represent him, confides a person close to the file.
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"All checks have been made on its possible radicalization", comments a source close to the case.
Without being conclusive, which is why the national anti-terrorism prosecution did not take up the case.
About fifteen stab wounds
Mental imbalance, Ali R. is also lost.
Arrived from Pakistan to study in France in September 2016, he does not fit in well with the Leonardo da Vinci pole.
His first semester of studies is not validated, his inappropriate behavior, especially towards women, poses a problem.
The university excludes it.
He does not renew his residence permit, does not manage to earn a living and ends up homeless.
For months, Ali R. harbored a deep resentment, blaming the university for its failures.
He regularly hangs out around the Léonard-de-Vinci pole.
Until December 5, 2018 when, once again, he walks the square.
It is almost noon.
John Dowling comes out of the building to get something to eat.
The two men engage in a discussion which, on the video surveillance images, at first seems serene.
Then the teacher's expression changes.
Ali R. grabbed his former teacher by one arm and brandished a knife.
He strikes fifteen times, in the neck, in the thorax, in the head.
Two students rush to disarm the attacker, but John Dowling collapses.
The security official, who witnessed the crime by scrutinizing the CCTV footage, rushes with his colleagues to the forecourt and they overpower the murderer.
The next day, Ali R. will tell investigators that he has no regrets.
“I am calm, peaceful.
It was a burden to me.
"
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