Veiled Woman Stabbed in Loire, France; Attacker Sent to Psychiatric Center

Evacuated immediately to the hospital in serious condition, the victim, aged 24, was no longer in critical condition on Thursday, September 12, the Prosecutor of the Republic of Saint-Étienne, David Charmatz, told AFP.

According to the Prosecutor, this attack on the woman, fortunately, took place on Wednesday in front of her husband and their two children, in this village of Forez with 6,500 inhabitants. The husband immediately took the necessary steps to facilitate the evacuation of his wife and her care.

For now, the extremely violent attack "does not a priori have a religious connotation and the perpetrator’s act remains totally incomprehensible," added the Prosecutor.

The defendant, a notorious alcoholic quinquagenarian, had earlier assaulted two men on the street for no apparent reason, without injuring them. He was arrested on Wednesday evening, after the act. He was immediately taken into custody and sobered up at the Gendarmerie of Montbrison (Loire) before being hospitalized in psychiatry, on the advice of a doctor.