Murder in Fès: footballer stabbed in the neck in Benslimane neighbourhood café
A young footballer for Olympique des Mérinides was killed with a knife in a café in Fès. The attacker, a former offender, was arrested shortly afterwards and brought before the prosecutor.
Old grudge proves fatal in a Fès café: footballer killed by knife wound to the neck
According to Aujourd'hui Le Maroc, a young footballer playing for Olympique des Mérinides was fatally stabbed on the evening of Friday, 9 October in a café in the Benslimane neighbourhood, part of the Mérinides district in Fès.
The victim, an athlete of repute in the neighbourhood, was present in the establishment when he found himself face to face with a man he had known since childhood. Both had grown up in the same streets of Benslimane, but their relationship had deteriorated well before that evening.
An unsettled legal dispute
In the past, the victim had filed a complaint against this same individual after an assault. The matter followed its course: arrest, trial, conviction. The perpetrator served his sentence. But upon his release from prison, the grudge had not disappeared.
That Friday evening, the two men found themselves at tables a few seats apart in the café. The exact circumstances that triggered the altercation remain unclear. What is established: an argument broke out, voices were raised, and one of the two drew a knife. The blow was struck to the victim's neck. The wound, of immediate severity, proved fatal. The footballer collapsed in front of the other clients. The emergency services could only confirm death.
Brief flight, swift arrest
The victim's body was transported to the morgue of Al Ghassani hospital. The café in the Benslimane neighbourhood, a place of relaxation minutes earlier, became a crime scene.
The alleged attacker fled immediately after the incident. His flight was short-lived. Detectives from the criminal police rapidly deployed, cross-referencing information and carrying out the necessary checks to locate the suspect. He was apprehended shortly after the incident, then taken into police custody.
Brought before the public prosecutor
The man was subsequently brought before the public prosecutor's office at the Court of Appeal in Fès. Suspected of assault and battery with a bladed weapon resulting in death, he was handed over to the investigating judge. His case is now awaiting investigation before appearing before the criminal chamber.
The Olympique des Mérinides club, which competes in the premier division of the regional league, loses one of its players. A family is in mourning, and the residents of the Benslimane neighbourhood struggle to understand how an ordinary evening in a café could end with the death of a young man from their community.
Source: Aujourd'hui Le Maroc