October 1, 2014
PONTOISE (AFP) - Two French female train employees who allegedly paid teens to assault them at work so they could get time off for a vacation are to go on trial this week in a Paris suburb.
The pair, aged 26 and 37, were fired by the state rail company SNCF following the incident that allegedly occurred early this year.
They face up to five years in prison and fines of up to 150,000 euros ($190,000) if found guilty by a court in Pontoise on Friday of inciting minors to commit a crime, and of attempted fraud.
Security cameras on January 3 recorded the assault, which took place on a railway platform at the Champ de Courses d'Enghien station north of the French capital.
Two teenaged boys, aged 15 and 16, seen hitting the women were quickly arrested by police who answered a call to help the women, who were hospitalised for shock.
But the boys told officers they had been promised 200 euros by the women to stage the attack. Police discovered text messages on one of their mobile telephones showing the platform encounter had been arranged.
The women were said to have confessed to the set-up. A source close to the investigation said they tried to justify their actions by saying they wanted to "go on vacation".
SNCF lodged a lawsuit over the matter and, after initially suspending the workers, dismissed them in March, a spokeswoman for the rail company told AFP.
