A 10-year-old child kidnapped by her father, the kidnapping alert triggered

A 10-year-old girl was kidnapped this Thursday morning around 8:15 a.m. in front of her school in Fontaine (Isère), indicates the Grenoble prosecutor’s office, confirming information from France Blue. The child was kidnapped by “her father and a hooded accomplice who gassed the mother with tear gas” of the girl, specifies Eric Vaillant, public prosecutor.

“Following the kidnapping this morning in Fontaine of young Eya by her father and a second hooded man, the kidnapping alert is triggered,” prosecutor Eric Vaillant announced in a press release. According to the description, the little girl is 1m60 tall, has brown eyes and long hair.

His father, Khaled Sassi, the main suspect, is likely to be traveling in a gray Peugeot 306 vehicle. “All the police services in Europe and Tunisia have already been informed of the searches launched,” added the prosecution. According to the police, the mother is 33 years old, the father, whose photo was also released, 53 years old. The investigation was entrusted to the police officers of the departmental security of Grenoble.

Family conflict

At the origin of this kidnapping, a family dispute concerning the right of custody of the child. In a testimony to Dauphine Liberethe mother explained that she was walking with her daughter to school after finding a flat tire on her car for the second time in two days.

According to her account, they were suddenly blocked by a vehicle, inside which she says she recognized the father of the child. As the driver sprayed her with tear gas, her “ex-husband caught [l’enfant] by the hair and forced her into the back seat with him,” she said, saying she feared he would take her abroad.

The child, born in Tunisia where the mother had gone to study and married in 2012, has dual Franco-Tunisian nationality. The mother returned to France with her daughter in 2017, according to the Dauphine Libere.