An individual of Muslim origin in his thirties, unfavorably known to the police and suffering from psychiatric disorders, deliberately ran into the Al Badr mosque in Meaux (Seine-et-Marne) on Saturday February 26 at the end of morning.
Information confirmed to
Figaro
by the Meaux prosecutor's office on Monday.
The facts occurred around 11:20 a.m., rue Sébastien de Brossard.
The man used an old Chevrolet previously stolen from one of his relatives as a ramming car to break down the mosque's emergency door.
For this, he has also taken it several times.
“
The door was shattered
,” reports a source close to the investigation.
“
Damage was also observed inside the mosque
”, specifies Laureline Peyrefitte, the public prosecutor of Meaux.
The man, who is, according to the magistrate,
"from the area"
and who used to frequent this mosque, then abandoned his vehicle before fleeing on foot.
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Warned, the police went to the scene to inspect the damage.
The demining service was also dispatched to examine the damaged vehicle.
No dangerous objects were found there.
The terrorist track was quickly ruled out.
An investigation was opened in the process and entrusted to the PJ of Meaux while a complaint from the leaders of the mosque was filed.
The defendant was arrested the same day, around 8 p.m., in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, where he had gone by train after the events.
It was in this town that he was placed under house arrest after being convicted of domestic violence last November.
This father of five children “
had benefited from a sentence adjustment
”, details Laureline Peyrefitte.
First placed in police custody, as required by the procedure, the 30-year-old saw his hearing quickly interrupted by administrative decision of a doctor and a psychiatrist.
The two having deemed his mental health incompatible with such a measure of constraint.
The latter was automatically committed to a psychiatric hospital.
On Facebook, officials of the Al Badr mosque in Meaux said they were "
saddened and shocked by this act, but we must keep our calm and our discernment in the face of this situation
".