France: Schoolboy Attacked With Machete

Yvelines: 15-year-old attacked with machete, suspect on the run is object of order to leave French territory

By Alexandra Perrini

Posted 19 March 2025 at 13:03, updated 20 March 2025 at 15:10

The alleged attacker, an Algerian national, had been expelled from the territory in July 2024 prior to returning clandestinely to France.

A 15-year-old minor was injured by blows from a machete on Tuesday in Plaisir (Yvelines) near his school, Le Figaro has learned according to sources confirming information from Parisien. The suspect, still on the run, is an Algerian national, subject to an obligation to leave the territory (OQTF). Expelled in July 2024, he then returned to France clandestinely, the prefect of Yvelines and the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Versailles told Figaro on Wednesday. An investigation has been opened.

According to our information, the man is said to be an “acquaintance” of the victim’s mother. He reportedly assaulted the older sister of the adolescent a year before, and was reportedly tried for this offense. Contacted on this matter, the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Versailles was not in a position to confirm this information at this time.

Injuries to knees, shins, and neck

The events occurred in the middle of the afternoon. At the exit of the Guillaume Apollinaire School, the suspect, armed with a machete, waited for his victim before following him. Noticing that the individual was following in his footsteps, the minor managed to run to the sports field of the Alain Fournier Primary School, located 350 meters from the (victim’s) school. The suspect finally caught up with him striking him with several blows.

By chance, a school counselor, a witness to the scene, managed to chase the attacker away, a police source indicates to Figaro. The victim was then sheltered in the school cafeteria, and the counselor immediately contacted law enforcement, stating that a pupil had received several blows from a machete from an individual, a second source stated. When the police team arrived at the scene, they could only ascertain the injuries to the adolescent- (who) showed “fairly deep” wounds to the knees, the shins, and the neck. When he was questioned by investigators, he confirmed that he was followed and attacked by the suspect.

Yellow Kangoo (Renault van)

According to his statements, the man was dressed all in black and was wearing a fluorescent orange vest. On it was inscribed a business logo, our source continues, noting that the victim reportedly had the time to make out the letters, “SP” written on it.

Also questioned by the police, the counselor who took the adolescent in also confirmed the facts. He reportedly also saw the suspect get into a Kangoo-type vehicle, yellow in color, with a ladder on the roof. The suspect reportedly fled toward rue (street) du Bois a Plaisir, and reportedly disappeared at that moment, the same source says. 

While walking around the sites of the attack, police questioned two children who were playing near the school gym. They reportedly also were witnesses to the attack a few minutes earlier.