In memoriam: Anne-Lorraine

The following text is the English translation of an article by Gérard Gachet about the murder of Anne-Lorraine last Sunday.

text found at http://galliawatch.blogspot.com

The author of this article, Gérard Gachet, begins by saying that he was shocked to hear of the stabbing death of a woman on the RER and relieved to learn that her killer was caught. Then he goes on:

But I learned the worst yesterday afternoon. The worst is that I knew this young woman. I had had time to judge and appreciate her during the two months as a student journalist that she spent last year at Valeurs Actuelles, where I was then editor-in-chief. Her name was Anne-Lorraine Schmitt, she was 23, and she seemed to have been one of those children who are born to fill their parents with joy and pride. The eldest of a family of five children - boys and girls - she had graduated high-school at La Maison de la Légion d'Honneur in Saint-Denis before enrolling at the Institute for Political Science in Lille. In the fall of 2006 she entered Celsa, the excellent school of information and communication dependent on the Sorbonne.

During her apprenticeship at Valeurs Actuelles, she impressed the editing staff by her general level of culture, her maturity, the demands she made on herself. Demands that probably were the result of her faith: she was profoundly religious and was deeply involved in the scout movement. None of which prevented her from being a young woman of her times, charming, brilliant and appreciated by all.

On Sunday morning, her parents were waiting for her at the Orry-la-Ville train station to go together to Mass. A repeat sexual-offender, of Turkish origin, already convicted in 1996 to five years for an armed rape committed on the same RER line, destroyed their lives and the life of their daughter. But Anne-Lorraine was courageous to the end: she defended herself and prevented the assailant from achieving his goal by wounding him with his own weapon. This helped lead to his subsequent arrest. When she congratulated the investigators for their fast work, Interior Minister Michèle Alliot-Marie sent her profound compassion to the family of Anne-Lorraine.

A few hours later, a few kilometers from there, young Moushin, 15, and Larami, 16, speeding on an unregistered motor-bike, without helmets, were killed when they crashed head-on with a police car on patrol.

He then describes the rioting and property damage.

In an attempt to calm things down, the President may meet on Wednesday with the parents of the two boys. Would it be asking too much for him to show a fine gesture towards the family and loved ones of Anne-Lorraine? For example, sending a representative - or even going himself, as he has done before - to the funeral of this exemplary young woman, on Saturday, at 2:00 P.M. at the Cathedral of Senlis. It would be only fair, in truth, for the innocent victims in this country to have a right to more consideration than the delinquents who are responsible for their own misfortune.