On Monday, a 20-year-old Pakistani man was sentenced for attacking a passer-by and police officer with a knife in Douai on April 7 after spending the night under the influence of drugs.
There is cause for concern in the current situation. ‘A man with a knife shouting ’Allah Akbar‘ in the street is similar to a terrorist attack,’ emphasised judge Caroline Marchal. The scene took place at around 6 a.m. on April 7. Two police officers at the end of their shift were on their way home when, on the corner of Rue Dubois and Morel in Douai, they came across a man walking in the middle of the street with a kitchen knife in his hand. He behaved in a threatening manner towards passers-by. The officers secure the junction with their vehicles and their colleagues arrive.
A. G., a 20-year-old Pakistani who has been living in France for five years, is not in full mental health. He has taken drugs (ecstasy type) and chased at least one passer-by who manages to escape. Despite their requests, the police officers have to deploy their stun guns several times to disarm him and handcuff him. One officer, who assures them that he has “never seen anything like this in Douai in my 29 years on the job”, is bitten in the finger.
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In the meantime, A. G., who has been detained since his arrest in April, was sentenced to ten months in prison without parole, a three-year entry ban to enter France and a total of €2,000 to pay to the three police officers as joint plaintiffs. This sentence is less drastic than the one demanded by the public prosecutor (two years in prison and a definitive entry ban), as the court found that the defendant was no longer capable of judgement at the time of his offence.