A man accused of stabbing a British toddler at a playground in the French Alps will stand trial charged with attempted murder, prosecutors have announced. Abdalmasih Hanoun is also accused of the attempted murder of 12 other people following the knife attack at a lakeside park in Le Paquier, Annecy, south-east France, in June 2023.
Details of the Attack
Hanoun additionally faces charges of armed resistance after the assault on the British girl, who was three at the time and was named locally as Ettie. She had been visiting the area with her parents, officials said, and was one of four children, aged between 22 months and three years, who were wounded. Two pensioners were also injured.
At the time, French prosecutors said the girl sustained a single stab wound but her condition was never "vital".
Court Decision
In an update issued on Wednesday, the French public prosecutor's office said Hanoun would face trial at Haute-Savoie Assize Court in Annecy within the next year. The announcement followed an assessment of the defendant's mental state by a panel of experts who determined he was not "suffering from a psychological or neuropsychological disorder" at the time of the attack.
The translated statement read: "By a decision dated October 6 2026, the Indictment Chamber of the Chambery Court of Appeal ordered that Abdalmasih Hanoun be back before the Haute-Savoie Assize Court in the case known as the 'paquier' case.
"The defendant will have to answer charges of attempted murder in respect of 13 victims, violence with a weapon without total work incapacity in respect of two victims, and armed resistance."
"The Indictment Chamber considered that since the person under investigation was manifestly not, at the time of the events and according to the second panel of experts, suffering from a psychological or neuropsychological disorder abolishing his discernment or ability to control his actions, there could be no grounds justifying the decision not to indict Mr Abdalmasih Hanoun."
Aftermath and Next Steps
The statement added that the decision to proceed with a trial can be appealed at the French Court of Cassation. In the aftermath of the attack, French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte visited the British child and other victims in hospital before making their way to the lakeside town where the incident occurred.
