A teenager on trial for stabbing his Spanish teacher to death in Saint-Jean-de-Luz when he was 16

A man dancing around a coffin at his partner’s funeral. These emotion-filled images have left their mark on many French people. It was Stéphane Voirin’s way of saying a final farewell to Agnès Lassalle, Spanish teacher, a few days after her death, stabbed by a student in class in Saint-Jean-de-Luz (Pyrénées-Atlantiques). The trial is due to begin on Tuesday April 21 at the Pyrénées-Atlantiques miners’ conference.

Moving farewell to Agnès Lassalle

The funeral of the Spanish teacher fatally stabbed by one of her students took place today in Biarritz. His companion dances, alone, in front of his coffin before being joined by the victim’s relatives

? @F3euskalherri pic.twitter.com/RD5XC8xmio

— Boris Kharlamoff (@BorisKharlamoff) March 3, 2023

What happened?

On February 22, 2023, at the Saint-Thomas-d’Aquin private Catholic college-high school in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, it is 9:45 a.m. and the Spanish class is coming to an end. A 16-year-old student gets up, goes to lock the classroom door and turns around, a knife in his hand. He approaches Agnès Lassalle and hits her “with a sharp blow” with the 18 cm long blade. The blade enters “in its entirety or almost entirely” into the teacher’s heart. His comrades flee. It was a teacher from a neighboring classroom who made the teenager drop the knife.

How does the student explain his action?

During the instruction, the student explained his action by “a little voice that speaks to him”, a being “selfish, manipulative, egocentric, who encourages him to do evil”. He explained that he took the knife the day before from his father’s house, wrapped it in paper towels and slipped it into his bag to go to class the next day.

Also read:
Teacher killed in Saint-Jean-de-Luz: what do we know about the 16-year-old high school student who killed the teacher?

Who is the student who will be judged?

This student is 19 years old today. He was 16 years old at the time of the events. He is an “anxious” boy who says he has been bullied at school. He had difficulties in Agnès Lassalle’s class, which was mainly made up of Spanish-speaking students. After a suicide attempt, he had been taking antidepressant treatment since November 2022. He is originally from Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle in the Basque Country.

Also read:
Teacher killed in Saint-Jean-de-Luz: “serious” and “conscientious”, who was the teacher who was stabbed to death?

What do the expert opinions say about his criminal liability?

The expert assessments carried out to determine his criminal liability prove contradictory. A collegial expert opinion estimates that the student’s discernment may have been “slightly impaired” by his “experience of school bullying”, his depressive state and his chronic anxiety. A report submitted in November 2024 concluded that this discernment was “abolished” in the light of “a severe psychological disorder”, which would make the adolescent inaccessible to criminal sanction. The degree of discernment of the accused will be at the heart of the debates. His lawyer, Thierry Sagardoytho, asks the question: “Was the support prior to the tragedy sufficient? Could she have avoided it?”

What does the teacher’s family hope for?

Me Sébastien Binet is the lawyer for Agnès Lassalle’s partner. His client Stéphane Voirin is waiting for “a judicial truth”. “Today,” he said, “he lacks a word or acknowledgment from the accused. He could take responsibility, apologize and explain what provoked the act.” The accused faces up to 20 years in prison. The verdict will be rendered on Friday by the Pyrénées-Atlantiques minors’ assize court.