A French court has handed a six-month prison sentence to a father who threatened to behead a teacher at his son’s school.
The man was prosecuted after confronting the 58-year-old teacher at the school in Le Fauga, southwestern France, last week.
Reports said the incident followed the decision to move his nine-year-old son to another class because of his behaviour.
The father allegedly threatened to decapitate the teacher while confronting her in the school car park. He later went inside the school and repeated the threats in the presence of the headteacher.
The case has drawn attention because of its similarity to the 2020 killing of French teacher Samuel Paty, who was beheaded by an 18-year-old radical Islamist of Chechen origin after showing his students caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed.
At a hearing in Toulouse on Thursday, the man’s lawyer admitted the seriousness of the offence but asked the court to consider him as a concerned father rather than focus on his Muslim religious beliefs.
Judge Fabrice Rives described the threats as “extremely disturbing”, saying they “only refer to a current event that has, unfortunately, remained in the minds of all French people”.
The court ordered the six-month sentence to be served immediately without parole, despite prosecutors seeking the same term under electronic monitoring.
Following his release, the father must complete a citizenship course within six months. He has also been prohibited from contacting the teacher or going near the school for three years.
The defendant apologised in court, saying he had not “realised the seriousness” of his remarks.
He said he was “very, very protective of his children” and described himself as “not a violent person by nature”.
The teacher, who is reportedly traumatised by the incident, is currently on sick leave and remains uncertain about returning to the classroom.
Her lawyer, Jocelyn Momasso-Momasso, said she told him: “I didn’t sign up for this”.
