11-year-old boy bullied at summer camp in Camaret-sur-Mer: complaint filed
Jean, 11, suffered repeated violence during a stay in Finistère. His mother is filing a complaint for aggravated assault against three pre-adolescents.
Violence at summer camp: 11-year-old boy beaten and threatened throughout stay
Google News FR — Crime (fr) reports the case of Jean, an 11-year-old child from Oissy (Somme), who allegedly suffered physical violence and repeated intimidation during a summer camp in Camaret-sur-Mer, in Finistère.
Having left Amiens on Friday 23 August as part of a stay organised by the association Éducation Jeunesse Aisne (EJN), mandated by the Communauté de communes Somme Sud-Ouest (CC2SO), Jean returned home on Thursday 29 August with a black eye. His mother, Cécile, told Le Parisien that she discovered upon lifting her son's jumper that he "had bruises all over his body".
Initially reluctant to speak, Jean eventually confided in his cousins. According to his account, three boys aged 12 to 13 had targeted him from the start of the stay. "They would wake him with slaps, hit him at every break, morning, noon and evening, and that all week long," Cécile described. The three pre-adolescents also allegedly made threats against him: "If you talk, you're dead. We're going to go rape your mother."
Jean says he did not wash at all during the stay, as showers were not supervised. He allegedly also spent an entire evening hiding in a bush, without dinner, fearing sexual assault after a group had tried to put him on his hands and knees in the bedroom and remove his trousers.
Supervisors held accountable
Cécile also accuses the supervisory team of failing to intervene despite the signals sent by her son. According to her, when Jean asked to be allowed to call her, a supervisor allegedly told him: "If it's to complain, there's no point." "Kids squabbling happens, but Jean told them what he was suffering and they did nothing," she said to France Bleu Picardie.
With no response to an email sent to the camp manager, Cécile announced she would file a complaint for "aggravated assault".
Reactions from organisers and the local authority
The CC2SO stated it was "taking the matter very seriously" and made contact with Jean's mother after a post was published on Facebook. The local authority also reserved the right to file a complaint against the camp organiser. France Bleu noted that an internal investigation had been opened.
Jérôme Vasseur, director of the association Éducation Jeunesse Aisne, told Le Parisien he was "conducting investigations to try to understand what could have happened and where the bruises on Jean's body came from". He rejected the hypothesis of insufficient supervision: "When there are a hundred children, there must be a minimum of nine educators. There were nearly double that."
Source: Google News FR — Crime (fr)