Le Figaro Bordeaux
The night is dark in Tonneins (Gironde).
The sky discovers clouds of stars.
But the whole town is in mourning, after the tragedy that occurred a week ago, on November 18.
Vanesa, a 14-year-old schoolgirl, was found dead after being kidnapped, kidnapped, raped and then strangled.
A terrible crime that still terrified the Tonneinquais and the Girondins.
This Friday, a white march was organized in his village in honor of the young girl.
Several hundred of them came to show their solidarity with the grieving family, and to chant together a name that will mark this once quiet little town: Vanesa.
A mass was given in his honor at the Notre Dame church at 5:30 p.m. On the church square, the Tonneinquais came in large numbers at the end of the afternoon, by the hundred.
Some residents, however, preferred to stay outside.
"
I left the church because it's horrible
," says Salya, who came with her daughter.
"
I could not have held out
," she said, too touched by the photographs of the young girl, and by this "
despicable
" crime.
“
14 years old, it could have been my daughter
,” she whispers with affliction.
“
What could have gone through this guy's head, she was going home alone, she wasn't asking anyone for anything, she was so beautiful too.
»
Read alsoLot-et-Garonne: after the murder of Vanesa, the town of Tonneins still in shock
As they leave the church, the crowd quickly gathers in front of the family.
When the small white coffin is placed in the hearse in front of the crowd and the cameras, a swarm of applause awkwardly camouflages the unnamed sadness of the parents and loved ones of Vanesa, dressed entirely in white, two of them brandishing frames housing the portrait of the young girl.
At the exit of the church, the crowd gathers in front of the family.
Jean Cittone - Le Figaro
Between the white balloons, the real and fake candles, the roses and the baby's breath, it's a whole city that comes together, in a murmur of communion.
Apart from the chirping of birds and the cries of children, no one dares to break the solemn silence before the march begins.
“
We are a little moved all the same
,” mutters an elderly woman after blowing her nose, crossing a man she knows.
“
And me and me
,” he replies half-heartedly.
In all generations, eyes are suffused with tears.
Children and parents or siblings hold hands, and all languages are spoken, but only one community is in mourning.
Twice the silence is broken.
A woman shouts "
Vanesa
and the crowd chants his name.
And another shrill cry arose a few moments later: “
Justicia para Vanesa
”.
"It shouldn't have happened"
The procession moves slowly from the church towards the town hall.
In front of him, hundreds of people are gathered there, in silence.
Some have come from afar.
Martin* arrived by car from Laparade, with his partner and their daughter.
“
I wasn't expecting so many people, but it's a big city all the same, Tonneins.
” Angry, this father believes that “
it should not have happened
”, and that “
we must denounce all this, our leaders they close their eyes
”.
His daughter being also a college student, he was turned when he heard the news.
"
Yet I have a solid temperament, but it shakes
," he says.
Read alsoGironde: already sentenced for a series of burglaries, he commits several armed robberies
In the compact and silent crowd, many signs in French or Spanish: “
Vanesa, we cry for you
”, “
Peace to you Vanesa, little angel
”, “
Esto nunca màs
” (never again).
Several schoolgirls, also dressed in white, hold each other by the elbows as they move forward, the inscription "
Te queremos Vanesa
" inscribed in black marker on the back of one of them.
"
We are just destroyed, we did not think it could happen to us
", testifies one of them.
Hundreds of people are waiting for Vanesa's family in front of the town hall of Tonneins, to start the white march towards the Germillac college.
Jean Cittone - Le Figaro
Quickly installed at the head of the procession, under a large white banner covered with red hearts and the first name of their daughter, Vanesa's parents are surrounded by members of their family.
As the walk crosses the bridge over the railway tracks, towards the Germillac college, the streets of Tonneins suddenly seem very narrow, filled with a compact but silent crowd.
Once in front of the college, whose gates are still covered with flowers and farewell notes left by the students of the establishment and their families, a minute of silence is given in honor of the young girl.
After this white march, the crowd slowly dispersed in the dark and cold streets of the Gironde commune.
Little Vanesa's family will soon return to Spain, with the remains of the young girl, to be buried in Granada.
*Name has been changed.
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