Suspect in France playground stabbing charged with attempted murder

French judges have filed preliminary charges of attempted murder against a man accused of stabbing four children and two adults in a park in the town of Annecy.

Roses left at the playground where a knife attack took place on 8 June 2023 in Annecy, in the French Alps. © AP / Laurent Cipriani

The suspect is a 31-year-old Syrian national with permanent residency in Sweden. 

At a press conference on Saturday, lead prosecutor Line Bonnet-Mathis said the man had been presented to investigating judges in the lakeside town and handed charges of attempted murder and armed resistance.

He is in custody pending further investigation.

Victims out of danger

The prosecutor said the victims are no longer in life-threatening condition after Thursday’s attack.

The four children remained in hospital on Saturday. One of the adults injured has been discharged, while another who was stabbed and wounded by police bullets is expected to be well enough to leave hospital in a few days.

The six victims came from four different countries: France, Britain, the Netherlands and Portugal.

The children, aged between 22 months and 3 years old, are being treated in nearby Grenoble, where French President Emmanuel Macron visited them on Friday.

Suspect remains silent

The unnamed suspect has been in custody since Thursday. He has so far refused to speak to investigators about the attack, according to the prosecutor.

Drug and alcohol tests came back negative, while a psychiatrist and other doctors concluded he was fit to face charges, Bonnet-Mathis added. 

Witnesses said they heard the attacker mention his daughter, his wife and Jesus Christ, according to the prosecutor, who said he wore a cross and carried two Christian images with him at the time of the attack. 

French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin dismissed speculation that the attack was motivated by Islamist extremism, telling French news channel BFMTV that the suspect was "clearly not someone radicalised". 

The suspect had travelled to Italy and Switzerland before coming to France last October, according to French police.

Prior to that he lived in Sweden, where he has a wife and 3-year-old child. 

(with wires)