Disappearance of Lyhanna in Gers: 41-year-old suspect charged and remanded in custody
The suspect arrested in connection with the disappearance of Lyhanna, 11, has been charged with abduction and unlawful confinement. He denies any involvement.
Suspect charged after 48 hours in custody
The 41-year-old man held in police custody as part of the investigation into the disappearance of Lyhanna, an 11-year-old secondary school pupil, was charged on Monday evening with abduction and unlawful confinement of a minor under 15 years of age, the prosecutor of Agen, Olivier Naboulet, told AFP. The judge responsible for civil liberties and detention decided to remand him in custody late in the evening, according to reports from rtl.be.
Arrested on Saturday at midday, the suspect was transferred on Monday afternoon to the criminal division of Agen's court building. Before the judge who questioned him, this man — whose daughter was a friend of Lyhanna's — denied any involvement in the disappearance, according to a source close to the case cited by AFP.
Families had known each other for years
According to Lyhanna's father, who spoke to an AFP journalist, the two girls attend the same secondary school in Fleurance and the two families have maintained a relationship for several years. The lawyer for the missing girl's family, François Roujou de Boubée, confirmed that Lyhanna was a "friend" of the suspect's daughter and that the parents of the two secondary school pupils knew each other.
On BFMTV, Mr Roujou de Boubée — who specified that he had not yet had access to the case file — also indicated that Lyhanna's parents had severed "all contact" with the suspect after having "some concerns" about his conduct at a "pyjama party" at his home. The only hope of the family, he stated, "is to find Lyhanna": "That is the only thing we want; everything else is secondary."
On Sunday, the prosecutor of Auch, Clémence Meyer, indicated that the suspect had stated that he had dropped Lyhanna off at the town's swimming pool, statements "deemed incoherent and imprecise".
Lyhanna last seen on Friday outside her secondary school
The teenager was last seen on Friday at around 15:00 outside her secondary school in Fleurance, a town of 6,000 inhabitants located 80 kilometres west of Toulouse. Despite several days of searches in the surrounding area, gendarmes have not found the young girl.
Up to 180 gendarmes deployed on the ground
Search efforts were intensified with the arrival of a mobile gendarmerie squadron, bringing the number of law enforcement officers deployed to "170-180", the colonel Philippe de Laforcade, commanding officer of the Gers gendarmerie grouping, specified late in the afternoon. "We are not operating within a set timeframe; we are carrying out the mission (…), maintaining the effort is what we owe to Lyhanna, to her family and to the population of Fleurance", he emphasised.
Rivers and lakes were probed by divers, dogs specialised in searching for people, drones and a helicopter were also deployed. On Sunday, a search organised by gendarmes with inhabitants of the town made it possible to collect "a certain number of objects, evidence". On Monday, the search was focused on woods south of the town as well as on other areas in the surrounding region.
Colonel de Laforcade asked the population to "not engage in collective searches independently", whilst not ruling out, "under the authority of the prosecutor of Agen, relaunching community searches".
Fleurance in shock, elected officials mobilised
A meeting bringing together around forty mayors and deputy mayors from the Lomagne Gersoise municipal union, of which Fleurance is a part, was held on Monday evening on site in order to facilitate "overall cohesion" and the dissemination of information. The mayor of Fleurance, Gregory Bobbato, indicated that elected officials wished to show their solidarity with the family.
"The inhabitants of Fleurance are shocked by the news", Mr Bobbato declared, emphasising the role of elected officials as intermediaries between law enforcement and the population. "We must allow the investigation to progress without obstructing it, especially through personal initiatives", he added.
Source: Google News BE FR