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It is the ultimate expression of modern despair." This is the conclusion of the LR deputy of Hauts-de-Seine Philippe Juvin, who tried to save, this Saturday, June 3, a fifty-year-old who set herself on fire on the square of the town hall of La Garenne-Colombes, in the Hauts-de-Seine.
Severely burned, the victim was first transported to Beaujon Hospital in Clichy-la-Garenne, reports Le Parisien. Before being transferred to the burn department of the Saint-Louis hospital, says Philippe Juvin, former mayor of the city now a municipal councillor. The MP believes that it has "little chance of surviving, the burned area being very important".
Three minutes of anguish
At the time of the facts, the former elected official and anaesthetist-resuscitator is on the first floor of the town hall of La Garenne-Colombes. It was then 11 o'clock in the morning. The one who is also head of the emergency department of the Georges-Pompidou European Hospital in Paris (XVth) is preparing to attend a wedding, when he hears screams. "I thought of a fight. Then I saw a human torch," he tells us.
The blood of the deputy and former candidate in the primary of the right makes only one turn. He immediately rushes to the small square in front of the town hall where the woman is lying down. While asking to call the fire department, he removes his jacket, with which he begins to extinguish the fire. Passers-by also bring the carpet from the entrance of the town hall, others bottles of water, four fire extinguishers, garbage cans filled with water ... All means are good to try to calm the flames. In total, three minutes of intense anguish. Three long minutes where the victim is still conscious.
Firefighters then arrived and took care of the fifty-year-old. "It seemed like an eternity to me. When that kind of thing happens, you don't think. You do things mechanically, "testifies a posteriori Philippe Juvin.
The victim with Diogenes syndrome?
It remains to be seen what caused this tragedy. If for the moment the exact reason for this self-immolation has not yet been determined, some hypotheses could be examined. In particular, that of a threat of eviction following large rental debts. "The victim was housed in social housing, in the departmental park of Hauts-de-Seine, and yet she could not make ends meet. The real problem is that of loneliness in the urban world," says the politician.
Inside the victim's home, investigators discovered a lot of rubbish, "suggesting that the fifty-year-old suffers from Diogenes syndrome", a behavioral disorder characterized by the accumulation of rubbish.
A psychological cell was set up in La Garenne-Colombes for witnesses of the scene, about 13 people. Two of them had to go immediately to a psychiatrist.
