An Afghan migrant, who has been living in France illegally, has been arrested on suspicion of the aggravated rape of a 14-year-old boy in a French village on Christmas Eve last year.
The attack reportedly took place at approximately 3.30 p.m. on Dec. 24 in the village of Croisilles (Pas-de-Calais) where the minor was raped and had his mobile phone stolen, a police source confirmed by the Arras prosecutor’s office told French broadcaster CNews.
Journalist Amaury Bucco tweeted on Monday that local officials had initially refused to respond to questioning about the rape when approached last month by CNews, citing only the theft of a mobile phone during the incident, however the local prosecutor’s office has now confirmed an investigation is ongoing into the attack and indictment proceedings have been opened against a 25-year-old Afghan national.
The suspect has a history of violence, and was “already known locally for having been dismissed in 2020 from the reception and situation examination center (CAES) in Croisilles, set up in 2017, where the administrative requests of migrants are examined,” Bucco reported.
A CAES employee told CNews in December that the suspect, known as Zalakahan S., had threatened to kill an employee of the center.
Despite the threats, the illegal migrant found his way to Paris where he was subsequently arrested and indicted on an attempted murder charge in February 2022 after attempting to stab a tourist in the neck.
Inexplicably, Zalakahan S. was allowed to roam freely and returned to Croisilles in March 2022 where he is understood to have resided until the aggravated rape of a minor last month.
“The Arras prosecutor’s office adds that the opening of a judicial investigation is envisaged (for the facts of December 24) in the coming days before an investigating judge of the Béthune judicial court, given the criminal nature of the facts,” Bucco tweeted.
The migration center in Croisilles has been the subject of a number of disturbing offenses committed by migrants since it was established in 2017.
A year after its inception, an alcoholic Moroccan migrant staying at the center was convicted of sexually assaulting a young girl working as a cashier at the village’s convenience store.
Two years later in 2020, another Afghan national, who was also residing in France illegally, was imprisoned and told to pay a €600 victim surcharge for sexually assaulting a young boy in the village.