Professor killed at La Défense: the murderer criminally irresponsible for his act

There will therefore be no trial at the assizes.

This Tuesday, the investigative chamber of the Versailles Court of Appeal decided the fate of Ali R., the man who killed John Dowling in front of the Léonard-de-Vinci pole, in La Défense, on the 5th December 2018. He is indeed the murderer, the investigation chamber considers that the "charges are sufficient" to affirm it.

But because of his mental disorder, "a paranoid psychosis" according to experts, Ali R. cannot be tried.

He is declared criminally irresponsible.

Also the chamber of instruction ordered his "complete hospitalization, under duress".

"The criminal irresponsibility of his attacker obscures the motive for the crime"

Before the magistrates, on March 30, this 40-year-old Pakistani said he wanted to return to his country, to be treated there by his family.

Wish not granted, he returned to the unit for difficult patients, where he was already staying as part of his pre-trial detention.

During this public hearing of a particular kind, made possible by the law on preventive detention of 2008 to compensate for the lack of trial, Ali R. was questioned on that day in December when he appeared in front of his former teacher , John Dowling, to strike him with twenty-seven stab wounds, three of which were fatal.

Listless, staring, the Pakistani told a story of caricatures of the prophet that the teacher allegedly showed in class.

Episode out of Ali R.'s imagination, like these anti-Muslim remarks that he attributes to the professor.

"Mr. Dowling, man of peace, never said these words", pleaded Me Roger Ribault, lawyer for relatives of the victim, who had insisted at the hearing on the terrorist dimension of the crime.

John Dowling, professor at the Léonard-de-Vinci pole in La Défense, was killed in front of the establishment on December 5, 2018. DR Photo DR

Also, this Tuesday, without contesting the penal irresponsibility, Me Ribault considers that "justice is not done to John Dowling".

His murderer was "a terrorist", insists the lawyer.

Which also notes that Ali R. "represented a known danger" and that he should "have been reported to the police".

Indeed, the months preceding his crime, Ali R. wandered on the forecourt of the Léonard-de-Vinci pole, sometimes annoying teachers or students.

Arrived from Pakistan in 2016 to study, he had started a course at the university center of Courbevoie but was excluded after a semester, because of his behavior "inappropriate with women", in particular.

"The threat he represented has not been assessed"

He never accepted the sanction, came back regularly to the campus forecourt, was kicked out by security guards.

Without work, without a home, he sank into difficulties, while harboring deep resentment towards the university establishment.

"The threat he represented was not evaluated by those who knew her", supports Me Ribault, whose clients "regret the little attention given by justice to the conditions of the death of John Dowling on the premises where he was teaching.

"

"He was murdered and the criminal irresponsibility of his attacker obscures the motive for the crime," comments the family lawyer.