On Sunday, September 15, 2024, a young couple was violently attacked by a group of five individuals while they were filling up with gas at the Super U in Bihorel, near Rouen. Beaten up, they were both taken to the CHU. The attackers eventually fled. A week after the incident, they testified.
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Swollen eye, broken nose, head wounds… Alexandre* still bears the scars of his violent attack. On Sunday, September 15, around 10 p.m., a young couple returning from the weekend decided to fill up with gas at the Super U station in Bihorel, near Rouen (Seine-Maritime).
The young man is a 20-year-old student, and his girlfriend is an 18-year-old high school student. The young woman, Alice, is driving, the boy is in charge of the gas.
Suddenly, they are brutally attacked by a group of five individuals. The high school girl is forcibly removed from the car and hit on the head, while the young man, who is trying at all costs to save the car, suffers violent blows and attempts at strangulation.
“I saw the car start to move. I understood that they were going to leave with all our personal belongings. A few months ago, our belongings had already been stolen. I didn’t want that to happen again,” says the young man.
The latter manages to throw himself into the vehicle, to honk the horn and remove the keys and tries to flee. But he is beaten up again.It all happened very quickly. At first I was beaten up.”
They hit me, strangled me and I lost consciousness. They had put a jacket over my head, I didn’t know where I was.
The young woman thinks about taking out her phone to film the scene, which is extremely violent. We hear her screaming at the top of her lungs. She also tries to call the police, but is threatened with a gun to her head.
See the report by Sophie Heriaud and Olivier Flavien:
video duration: 00h01mn53s
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Their attack ended with the chance arrival of a couple and the passing of a car, which forced the attackers to flee. “At first I didn’t understand that they were people who were helping us, they could have been accomplices,” says the young man.
In a state of shock, the two young people were taken care of by the firefighters and transported to the Rouen University Hospital for examinations. “I have bruises and scratches everywhere. I had glue stitches, my nose was broken. My living conditions have deteriorated,” continues the 20-year-old student.
The young man has been on sick leave since the attack. “Going out has become an ordeal.”
I really thought my boyfriend was going to die there. The blows were very violent. I don’t go out anymore, I hardly sleep at night, I’m scared as soon as I go out into the street, I check all the time that the car is locked… It’s complicated!
A complaint has been filed at the Rouen police station, and an investigation is underway.I’m waiting for the police to find the culprits, for all this to stop. People need to know what’s happening in Bihorel. We need to put an end to all this!”s’insurge Alice.
According to the young man’s father, Anthony*, this is not an isolated case; other carjackings have already occurred, including one in the same place at the end of August.It is not normal that after four attacks at the Super U station, nothing has been done! The Bihorel town hall does not seem to be aware of what is happening,” he protests.
On the side of the town hall of Bihorel, we speak “cyclical effect”. According to them, similar events had already occurred in 2023.It had calmed down at the beginning of the year, but it started again this summer.”
The testimonies were collected by our journalist Sophie Heriaud.
*Faced names
