Man accused of stabbing British toddler in French playground to stand trial

A man accused of a knife attack against 13 victims, one of them a three-year-old British girl, at a park in Haute-Savoie will go on trial for attempted murder within the next year.

The attack took place at a playground in the Le Pâquier area of Annecy on the morning of June 8, 2023.

Earlier this week (October 6), the cour d’appel (Court of Appeal) in Chambéry ruled that Syrian national Abdalmasih Hanoun would be referred for trial at Haute-Savoie’s cour d’assises (top-level criminal court). This comes after Mr Hanoun appealed in mid-June against his referral to the cour d'assises.

In a press statement sent to The Connexion, the Annecy public prosecutor said that the defendant would face charges of attempted murder in relation to 13 victims and resisting arrest whilst armed. 

He will also face a charge in relation to two victims of violence with a weapon sans incapacité totale de travail. This last charge refers to the severity of the injuries suffered by the victims, which were not deemed severe enough to result in a formal period of incapacity (incapacité).  

Mr Hanoun, who is said to have been granted refugee status in Sweden in 2013, wounded two adults aged 70 and 78, and four children aged between 22 and 36 months. Two of the children were French, one was Dutch and another was British. All victims survived the attack. 

The British child stabbed in the attack, aged three at the time and named in British media as Ettie, was visiting the area with her parents. 

President Macron and his wife Brigitte went to see her and other victims at hospital in Grenoble following the incident. 

In its press statement, the Annecy public prosecutor confirmed that a second panel of experts had assessed Mr Hanoun’s mental state and confirmed that at the time of the attack he was not suffering from a psychological or neuropsychological disorder “that had deprived him of his ability to discern right from wrong or control his actions.” 

Based on these findings, “there can be no grounds for justifying why Mr Hanoun should not stand trial,” the statement concluded. 

Investigators and prosecutors ruled out any terrorist motive in 2023.

If the ruling to advance the case becomes final, the trial must take place within one year, in accordance with Article 181 of France’s Code of Criminal Procedure.

The ruling may however be subject to appeal at France’s top Cour de cassation (Supreme Court), meaning it could be delayed.