Already convicted of attacking churches, the suspect of the arson that partially destroyed the church of the Immaculate Conception in Saint-Omer (Pas-de-Calais) on Monday morning was charged and imprisoned on Wednesday 4 September. This man born in 1985, without a profession and without a fixed address, had just been released from prison on 27 August, according to the Boulogne-Sur-Mer prosecutor, Guirec Le Bras.
On Wednesday, he was charged with “destruction of property by means dangerous to people, committed for reasons of race, ethnicity, nation or religion as a repeat offender and attempted robbery with theft as a repeat offender.” A criminal qualification carries fifteen years in prison, thirty in the case of a repeat offence, the prosecutor stresses.
Arrested on Monday, the thirty-year-old man was placed in preventive detention. He admitted “go up to the church to rob it” and explained “that before leaving the premises he had decided to set it on fire”the prosecutor explained in a press release.
Twenty-six convictions
The criminal record of the man, who was living in a dwelling at the time of the events, includes twenty-six convictions, including two for destruction of property by dangerous means and one for damage or deterioration of a place of worship, following the arson of four churches in Boulonnais, in 2021. His other convictions relate to theft by burglary, deception or damage, the prosecution lists.
Due to his criminal record, “Psychiatric and psychological evaluations will have to be carried out (…) to understand their exact motivations (…) as regards their recidivism, in particular with regard to places of worship”the prosecutor emphasizes.
During his trial for the burning of four churches in Pas-de-Calais in January 2022, the man explained that he had acted ” due to [son] approve “ : abandoned by his parents and entrusted to a foster family, he said he had been “broken” by his adoptive father “from 5 years to 6 and a half years”. “Every time I listen to the television and all that, the priests are indicators [pédophiles]. That is why I attack the churches”He declared. According to the psychiatrist who examined him at the time, the accused presented a “real psychological suffering” AND “I wanted to be in prison because I feel safer there than outside”According to prosecutor Guirec Le Bras, the accused did not make any such statements after his arrest at the Saint-Omer church.
Prize fund launched by the Heritage Foundation
The church, located in a suburb of Saint-Omer, was devastated by the fire that broke out on Monday at around 4:30 a.m. This neo-Gothic church, inaugurated in 1859, was restored between 2014 and 2018.
The fire destroyed the bell tower, which collapsed, as well as almost all of the roofs and the 19th-century Merklin organ.my century that was inside. The Bishop of Arras, Olivier Leborgne, came to his square on Wednesday morning for a “time of prayer and silence”in the presence of about 300 people.
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“A religious building is a place that connects: it unites people by uniting them with God”the bishop said, according to a verbatim report sent to Agence France-Presse. “The excitement in the Haut-Pont district is significant,” “A representative of the diocese stressed that a fund launched by the Heritage Foundation to help rebuild the building had raised around 16,000 euros of the 200,000 euros set as the target by the end of Wednesday,” said a diocesan representative.
The fire at this church has sparked a lot of excitement on social media. The boss of X and Tesla himself, Elon Musk, posted a conspiratorial message on the social network on Monday, accompanied by a video of the burning bell tower, questioning the criminal nature of the disaster. Still on X, the mayor of Saint-Omer, François Decoster, sent him the link to the prize pool in return.
