Lucia, 6 years old, strangled in Barkly - Jonathan, her father: "My daughter's eyes were starting to pop out of their sockets"

Lucia, a six-year-old girl, was violently strangled in her home in Barkly on Monday, November 24. Her 14-year-old brother bravely disarmed the attacker, who remains at large despite an ongoing police investigation.

Jonathan Clarel Lejeune, 37, and his wife are devastated. On November 24, their daughter Lucia encountered an intruder who entered their modest home in Barkly. The man violently strangled her. Fortunately, her older brother intervened to rescue her. A struggle ensued before the suspect fled. Traumatized and injured, the child was hospitalized. It was only on Saturday, November 29, that she was able to return home. The attacker remains elusive, and the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) of Barkly is continuing its searches.

Since this tragic event, the parents have been unable to sleep. Jonathan, a lifelong resident of the neighborhood, is aware of the dangers that lurk there but never imagined that an intruder would break into his home to harm his daughter. "My heart is breaking; it is exhausting for me," he confides to Défi Quotidien.

"My son risked his life to save his sister," he adds. His son, now terrified, limits his outings. "He is afraid to go out because this person is still free. At any moment, he could attack my son again," the father recounts.

Holding Lucia tightly against him, Jonathan is relieved she is back home, but the scars are evident. "Look at her eyes... after being strangled, my daughter's eyes were starting to pop out of their sockets," he says, still shaken. The child’s eyes have turned red. "The doctor told us it would take one to two weeks for everything to return to normal. He prescribed drops and painkillers," he explains.

"She doesn’t want to sleep alone"

The first night back home was challenging. "She has nightmares; she can't sleep. None of us slept that night. She doesn't want to sleep alone; she wants all of us to stay on the bed with her. This has traumatized her. Someone must stay close to her at all times. My daughter, usually cheerful and playful with her siblings, doesn’t even want to play anymore," says Jonathan, who is calling for swift police intervention.

He laments that a week after the incident, no arrests have been made: "This person is still free. If he encounters my child on the street, he could attack her again. That day, if I had returned home a little later, I could have found my son under a pool of blood, and I could have lost my daughter."

He makes an urgent appeal to the police: "There are no cameras at my house, but there are some further away. The police need to check. They must arrest the person who did this. If anyone knows anything, please let the police do their job."

Lucia’s mother: "The drugs have to stop. We don’t feel safe at all"

The mother is also in shock. "I was at work when I learned that my daughter had been attacked. I thought the worst," she recounts. To her, the neighborhood is plagued by drugs: "The drugs have to stop. It’s not just us who have been affected. We don’t feel safe. There are many children and elders here. These kinds of people do anything just to get their drugs."

Lucas, 14, a hero by chance

Present during the attack, Lucas did not hesitate to protect his sister, confronting the assailant at the risk of his life: "He came in to harm her. I saw him strangling my sister. I defended her. When I tried to pull his arm away from my sister, I hit him with a chair, punches, and kicks. He had a knife. He wounded me. I managed to take the knife from him and throw it far away. After that, I beat him until he ran away."

Investigators from the CID of Barkly spent Sunday gathering information on the ground. However, the identity of the attacker remained unknown by the end of the day.

Solidarity in Poste de Flacq

On Sunday, Lucia and her parents participated in a solidarity march in front of the village council of Poste de Flacq. The initiative, led by the Hero Kids Movement, gathered numerous children to support the girl. "Justice for Lucia," they chanted. "We feel anger. Something worse could have happened. We are seeking justice for the person who did this," said two young girls present.