The story ends well, but shivers down your spine: a 10-year-old boy was found in the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, December 16, after missing for 36 hours.
The child, a student in CM2 class, had vanished Monday in Chennevières-sur-Marne (Val-de-Marne), at the time of leaving classes.
He ended up being found on Wednesday a little before 3 a.m. almost 30 kilometers away, on the bench of a bus shelter at Porte de Saint-Ouen (Paris 18th).
What happened during the child's 36-hour journey remains to be determined precisely.
According to the explanations he gave to his mother, he took a bus after school with one of his classmates because the latter had promised him marbles.
"
His boyfriend was used to this trip, but Mamadou did not know public transport at all,
"
Aïssetou B told
Figaro. When he
got to his stop, said friend got off, leaving the little boy alone in the bus.
Mamadou then tried to take a bus in the opposite direction to return home.
"
He got lost completely and found himself in Champigny,
" sighs his mother.
"He didn't dare ask for help, he shunned adults who approached him because he was very shy and had been taught not to talk to strangers."
Disoriented, the little boy then took the RER A to Nation.
According to his family, he wanted to go to his grandmother's apartment, who lives in the 19th arrondissement, and wandered around the neighborhood to find him.
“
Her backpack was found in Alésia on Tuesday, in good condition,
” recalls the mother.
“
We said to ourselves that he shouldn't be far and we all went to patrol the area.
"
A member of the boy's maternal family eventually saw him on a bus shelter bench at 2:40 a.m.
“
It was an incredible feeling to find Mamadou safe and sound after these hours of anguish, I was so relieved,
” says his mother.
"
He was exhausted and completely lost, but he's fine now!"
"
"
I do not understand that nobody intervened
"
At the Chennevières police station, the disappearance of Mamadou mobilized 30 officials from the opening of the investigation, on Monday at 9 p.m.
After initial unsuccessful searches, a dog squad had even been deployed to find the trace of the child - without success.
Contacted, the investigation unit in charge of the case did not respond to our requests on Friday December 16 at 8.45 p.m.
Tuesday, the brigade for the protection of minors seized the file.
But it is also thanks to the spirit of solidarity born in Chennevières that Mamadou was found: upon the news of his disappearance, hundreds of inhabitants mobilized to look for the little boy with his family and launched opinions search on social networks.
On Twitter, they were quickly relayed by the academy of Créteil and the consultant specializing in football Pierre Ménès (250,000 subscribers).
“
I will never forget what people have done for us, I am incredibly grateful to them,
” said Aïssetou with emotion.
Two days after finding her son, she admits, however, that the anguish experienced during his disappearance has turned into anger.
"
For now, we are slowly recovering from our emotions, but I'm not going to stop there,
" she says.
“
I don't understand why no one stepped in to help a ten-year-old boy, obviously alone and lost.
"
Aïssetou wonders in particular about the RATP agents, warned that a child was lost in public transport.
“
We asked them to tell us if anyone saw Mamadou, but it was not effective at all.
However, he was alone, without a ticket, he spent the first night on the benches of the RER station
, ”she is moved.
“
I wonder if they couldn't have done more.
Several officers reportedly reported seeing the child, but did not stop him.
The role of the director in question
Aïssetou B. is also very upset against the director of the Hauts-de-Chennevières elementary school, and even hesitates to file a complaint.
"
I understand that the child was no longer under his responsibility from the moment he passed the doors of the school, but I am shocked by his lack of involvement
", she loses his temper.
"She knew at 5 pm that one of her students was missing, but did not call me or offer to help
."
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Worse still, the director would have told the master of the little boy on Monday that he had to
"unplug
" and that the case "
no longer concerned them
".
The mother claims that she also refused to give him the contact details of the parents of students in Mamadou's class, whom she wanted to contact in order to find out whether their children knew where her son was.
For her, it is “
non-assistance to a person in danger
”.
Madame G., the headmistress of the elementary school, says she is "
very saddened
" by these accusations and denies them fiercely.
“
We helped this family as best we could
,” she says.
“
I met the mum again on Thursday night to take stock of the events with her and explain to her why we hadn't been able to do certain things she asked of us, I thought we were clear.
»She admits not having communicated to him the coordinates of the other parents,«
quite simply because it is strictly prohibited
».
"
The only people to whom I could have given them were the police, but they did not claim them
", she explains.