In Lisieux, the autopsy of the principal found dead in his college excludes neither the intervention of a third party nor the natural cause

2023-08-14 18:19:01

The autopsy of the principal of a college in Lisieux (Calvados) found dead in his establishment on Friday morning “could neither exclude the intervention of a third party nor establish with certainty a natural cause of death”announced Monday, August 14 the prosecution of Lisieux.

“Additional toxicological and anatomopathological analyzes were required” to determine the causes of the death of Stéphane Vitel, 48, adds the prosecution in a press release after the autopsy.

Friday, August 11, around 6 a.m., Stéphane Vitel was preparing to go on vacation with his wife and their two children when he was informed of the triggering of an anti-intrusion alarm in the establishment he runs, the college Pierre-Simon-de-Laplace.

“A trace of a break-in on a secondary door of the college”

He had made a detour to get to his college, where he entered alone, leaving his family in the car. Worried not to see him return, she tried to reach him on his cell phone, then his daughter entered the establishment and found him lifeless.

The emergency services intervened quickly but could not resuscitate the 40-year-old, who was in cardiac arrest when they arrived. Stéphane Vitel’s wife, Jeanne Mailhos Vitel, who had tried to resuscitate her husband before help arrived, immediately told several media that she was sure he had “assaulted, a blow to the head [croyait-elle] ». She had also let it be known that she had seen a car “go with a bang” before she entered college, and spotted ” light “ at a window of the establishment.

The prosecution had quickly considered that this death was “suspicious” and had entrusted the investigation to the judicial police of Caen. The first observations made it possible to“identify a trace of break-in on a secondary door of the college”, the Lisieux prosecutor’s office had said on Saturday. No weapon was found on the scene and no disorder was noted.

If the college was not equipped with cameras, “we video-protect all accesses to the city”told Agence France-Presse the mayor of Lisieux, Sébastien Leclerc. “I think that the judicial police are looking at all the images from the day of Stéphane Vitel’s death and they must analyze all the plates that may have come out in the hours when Madame Vitel saw a car speed away”he said.

The emotional educational community

Asked by France 3Jeanne Mailhos Vitel also said “angry at these departmental system alarms that are tied to the principal’s, deputy principal’s and janitor’s phones”. Her husband had already moved several times in the middle of the night following the triggering of an intrusion alarm, she said. “We had often talked about it with Stéphane about these trips at night because of the alarms, but he was so dedicated, conscientious”added his wife.

In a press release on Saturday, in which the National Union of National Education Personnel (SNPDEN) testifies to its emotion following this tragedy, it also alerted to the problem. “It is important to remember the urgency of finding, under the responsibility of local authorities, solutions for monitoring and securing premises that do not jeopardize the safety and integrity of management staff”insists the union.

The death of this college principal aroused a wave of emotion in Lisieux and within the educational community. Dozens of bouquets of flowers were placed in front of the gates of the college, which he had taken over at the start of the 2022 school year. A tribute to Stéphane Vitel is planned in Lisieux at the start of the school year, in agreement with the family, according to the mayor. Another rally must be organized Tuesday afternoon in front of the former establishment of Mr. Vitel in Livarot, by students and teachers.

The World with AFP