- He is a top suspect in a string of murders across France and the Netherlands
A migrant suspected of bludgeoning at least one person to death amid a string of violent attacks across Europe has finally been arrested in the South of France after he launched an unprovoked assault on a woman on a train.
The suspect, identified as Levis E., is thought to have battered several victims with concrete slabs in France and the Netherlands, all while evading capture by travelling around the continent by train.
The 32-year-old Cameroonian national, who is subject to a deportation order according to Le Parisien, was detained by police at the train station in Toulon after allegedly assaulting a 26-year-old woman aboard a Marseille-bound train on Tuesday.
Train operators halted the train in Toulon after the alleged victim told them that a man wearing a black hooded sweater punched her several times and kicked her in the shin as she was trying to find her seat.
The alleged attacker, who train staff said was travelling without a ticket or ID, was detained peacefully by gendarmes in Toulon around 8pm on Tuesday.
But shortly after taking the man into custody, investigators realised their charge was the prime suspect in at least one murder and attempted murders across Europe.
Levis E. is thought to have waged a violent campaign in the Netherlands and France, conducting savage attacks on unsuspecting victims before immediately boarding a train and fleeing the country to avoid the authorities.
Authorities suspect he may have carried out a murder less than 24 hours before his arrest in Toulon yesterday, according to France’s SudOuest outlet.
Chilling surveillance footage that emerged in the French city of Lyon reportedly shows an individual matching Levis E.’s description smashing a concrete block into the head of a sleeping homeless man on the night of November 11-12.
The attacker in the footage is seen brandishing the dense slab aloft before running up to the man sleeping in the corner and slamming the weapon down on top of him.
The tragic victim, a man from Moldova who was sleeping rough on the streets of Lyon, was found dead having suffered massive head injuries.
That video bears a shocking resemblance to a similar attack in Rotterdam just over a week ago, where a homeless man was left in a coma following a similar assault on November 4-5.
Dutch police have been actively seeking the Rotterdam assailant, who was captured on CCTV fleeing the scene after dropping another concrete slab on the head of his victim who was lying on the ground.
The man boarded a train bound for the town of Breda hours after the attack, before moving on to the cities of Antwerp and Brussels in Belgium.
Sharing an urgent call for tips in their investigation, Rotterdam police released a CCTV image of the attacker.
He is seen wearing a black hooded jacket, dark trousers and a pair of trainers with distinctive orange laces – an appearance that matched the description given by the woman who claimed to have been assaulted on the train to Marseille.
At the time of Levis E.’s arrest in Toulon last night, the victim attacked in Rotterdam, a 37-year-old rough sleeper named as Benjamin, remains in a coma according to Dutch outlet De Telegraaf.
In addition to the Lyon and Rotterdam attacks, Levis E. is also wanted for at least three other violent attacks in the French cities of Evry, Strasbourg and Dijon in recent weeks.
Each attack bears similar hallmarks, with homeless individuals bludgeoned in public spaces by a suspect who subsequently boarded a train.
The arrest of Levis E. has ignited an urgent multinational investigation.
Authorities in Belgium and the Netherlands are now working closely with French officials to determine whether the Cameroonian national could be involved in other unsolved crimes.
Officers who arrested Levis E. in Toulon discovered he was already subject to a mandatory expulsion order as well as arrest warrants for attempted murder and petty crimes including shoplifting.
He is currently being interrogated by police in Toulon, but is expected to be transferred to Evry where his initial arrest warrant was issued.
‘After checking the wanted person’s file, they realised that he was the subject of an arrest warrant issued by an investigating judge in Evry,’ said Toulon prosecutor Samuel Finielz.
‘The man was placed in detention and measures will be taken to have him transferred to the investigating judge who issued the order.’
Lyon’s prosecutor told Le Figaro that it was still too early to confirm Levis E. was involved in the Rotterdam and Lyon attacks.
But Le Parisien reported that Levis E.’s clothing and DNA match those of the alleged murderer of the homeless people in Evry and Lyon.
Meanwhile, the family of the homeless man attacked in Rotterdam has launched a fundraiser in the hopes he emerges from the coma.
Benjamin’s sister Amy reportedly published the crowdfunding campaign to ensure ‘he never has to sleep rough again’ in the hope that he is able to recover from his critical condition.
The fundraiser had collected more than €26,000 as of yesterday evening.
