Two men were separately attacked at Lac Kir in Dijon on April 16 and 20. If they are gay, the assault may not be related to their sexual orientation. The investigation is still ongoing.
Saturday evening, April 16, a homosexual man, follower of the Coco.fr dating site, goes in the Kir lake car park in Dijon (Côte-d’Or). The latter must find another user for a meeting. But the meeting will turn out badly since it is actually a group of people who will show up and attack him.
On the evening of Tuesday, April 20, a similar affair took place. A 50-year-old goes to the Kir Lake parking lot in the hope of meeting someone, but is attacked by a malicious group. Wounded, the man is taken to the CHU.
The Dijon prosecutor, Olivier Caracotch, does not, however, confirm the homophobic nature of these attacks.
Regarding the first violence of April 16, “it may be linked to his homosexuality but it is also a villainous attack since certain objects have been stolen. The victim is drawn to the scene as part of an appointment but it is not certain, at this stage of the investigation, that the person was attacked because she was homosexual“, he declares.
The reasons for the second assault are still unclear. “His presence on the spot is not at all established as being linked to an appointment on coco.fr nor to his real or supposed homosexuality.,” adds the Dijon Prosecutor.
For us, the homophobic nature of the two attacks has not been established.
Olivier Caracotch, Prosecutor of Dijon
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The authorities have no real suspects but some individuals present at the scene have been checked. “The latter dispute their responsibilities in fact, and this is part of the verifications that are in progress.,” points out Olivier Caracotch.
The only element in common in this case, a car degradation of a person on the spot a few days earlier at the same place. However, the authorities cannot confirm the link between these two facts.
Between October 26 and November 3, 2021, residents of Chevigny-Saint-Sauveur and Sennecey-lès-Dijon are victims of the “hooded” gang. The latter go to a dating site, pretend to be a woman and set an ambush. The perpetrators are known and are awaiting their sentences.
The two cases, however, have no connection according to the Prosecutor. “It’s a comparable modus operandi but these two cases are, in our opinion, not linked. It is not because we use the same site to bring someone to a place that there is a link in the legal sense of the term, as Le bon coin can be used.”
This isn’t the first time Coco has been embroiled in assault cases. On February 12, 2022, a homosexual man was violently attacked in Villacoublay (Yvelines). Same procedure, the latter is trapped by an individual on the site in question. He was sentenced to two years in prison, one of which was suspended.
Same story at the end of August 2020. A man registered on the site is trapped by three men who will beat him up and rob him. An investigation is opened, and reveals that they have already used this modus operandi. The perpetrators are sentenced to five to six years in prison.
“This site is notoriously known to be hijacked for this purpose“, notes Olivier Caracotch. Indeed, Coco.fr seems to be an insecure chat. A nickname, an age, and a postal code, without checks, and you can get in touch with anyone. However, no monitoring is established at the national level, according to the Dijon Prosecutor.
A relaxation area during the day, Lac Kir has a completely different use at night. A place conducive to meetings, it is also the focus of many attacks.
In December 2020, for example, two teenagers pretend to be adults on a dating site. Following a scheduled meeting, a 60-year-old man is threatened and beaten by the two delinquents. Arrested by the police, they are also suspected of having ambushed a 24-year-old man in a cellar.
In December 2014, a then 32-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of having committed nine assaults on women, including seven sexual assaults at Kir Lake. He was sentenced by the court to three months’ imprisonment, of which 18 months was suspended.
However, the Dijon Public Prosecutor indicated that he had not put in place any specific prevention system in this place..
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