'I dressed terrorists' wounds'

12 January 2015 - 02:00 By Bill Gardner in London, Martin Evans in Paris, © The Sunday Telegraph
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KILLING FIELD: Security forces helicopters hover above the industrial area northeast of Paris on Saturday where the two Charlie Hebdo terrorists were shot dead
KILLING FIELD: Security forces helicopters hover above the industrial area northeast of Paris on Saturday where the two Charlie Hebdo terrorists were shot dead
Image: REUTERS

Glancing through his rain-streaked office window early on Friday morning, Michel Catalano knew something bad was about to happen.

Striding towards him across the courtyard was a man dressed in combat clothing carrying a Kalashnikov rifle and with a rocket launcher slung over his shoulder.

Within minutes Catalano had been taken hostage by two of the most wanted men in the world as thousands of armed police closed in on his business premises.

He gave an account on Saturday of the two terrifying hours he spent in the company of Charlie Hebdo killers Saïd and Chérif Kouachi as they made their final, bloody stand.

During the ordeal he made the brothers coffee and dressed the wounds they sustained after they battled with police.

The pair let him go free shortly before they were cut down during a raid by French commandos.

Catalano said that he arrived at his printing works at around 8am on Friday . Half an hour later an employee, Lilian Lepere, 27, arrived. It was then that he spotted the two killers out of the corner of his eye.

He said: "I could see a man with a rocket launcher and a Kalashnikov, and I could immediately see that we were in danger."

It was clear the Kouachi brothers were hunting for a hiding place. Within seconds they were knocking at his door. Turning to a terrified Lepere, he told him to hide at the back of the building.

"Then I turned back because I knew the two of us couldn't hide . I must admit I thought that was the end, that was the end of it."

Trembling, he walked to the front door, expecting to be cut down by bullets. Instead, a calm, quiet voice said: "Don't worry, we just want to come in."

Marching inside, the terrorists were sodden and exhausted.

Catalano realised he had to keep the brothers from exploring the back of the office, where Lepere was hiding. So he offered the pair coffee. Gratefully, the murderers gulped down their hot drinks as their weapons hung at their sides.

"They weren't aggressive."

Then, 45 minutes later, there was another knock at the door. It was a salesman named Didier from one his suppliers. He told the terrorists the visitor had "nothing to do" with his business and asked if he could be let go. To his surprise, they agreed.

Didier later told France Info radio: "When I arrived, my client came out with an armed man who said he was from the police. My client told me to leave so I left. I shook Michel's hand and I shook the hand of one of the terrorists."

He said the black-clad man, who was wearing a bullet-proof vest, told him: "Leave, we don't kill civilians."

"That really struck me, so I decided to call the police," Didier said.

When the door closed again, the brothers seemed to decide they would never leave alive: "They said that anyway it was going to finish there," Catalano said.

Standing in the warehouse, all three men knew the final battle would soon begin. They had to wait only a few minutes. When the brothers saw the hundreds of gendarmes arriving they fired a volley of shots.

Catalano dived into his office, where he hid, expecting to die. When the firing stopped he heard footsteps and prayed it was the police. But it was one of the brothers, calling politely: "Where are you, sir? Where are you, sir?"

"Don't worry, I'm here," Catalano replied, as his heart sank. "I was just terrified that they were going to the end, as I didn't know where Lilian was hidden," he said.

The Kouachis knew the endgame had come, that they would soon attain the "martyrdom" they craved.

The tension unnerved Catalano, who noticed blood oozing from a cut on Saïd Kouachi's forehead.

"When I felt that one of them was tense, I said: 'Look, if you want I could look after you', so I helped him with a sticking plaster."

After he had helped the pair, Catalano felt brave enough to ask if he could leave: "I felt that things could change because I felt that they were certainly nervous."

At first Saïd refused to let him go. But, after he pleaded for a third time, the older brother relented.

Making his way to the door, Catalano tried to decide whether he should tell the brothers about Lepere, hiding only metres away.

"That was the most difficult thing for me," he said.

But he decided telling them might put him at more risk and he walked outside to where the gendarmes were waiting.

"I don't know how I managed to stay calm throughout," he said.

"In fact they weren't aggressive. Even when they shot at the gendarmes, I didn't get the impression that they were going to harm me, even if that seems unbelievable.

"Possibly they had an ounce of humanity because they let me out," he said.

But the brothers' new-found humanity would have been tested if they had known that the commandos were being tipped off about their every move.

Hidden under a sink in a locked room just metres away from them, Lepere was alerting the police about the location of the gunmen and detailing the layout of the building.

For more than six hours the graphic designer passed on crucial information from his hide-out.

Lepere had first sent an SMS to his father, saying: "I am hidden on the first floor. I think they have killed everyone. Tell the police to intervene."

As snipers took up position on rooftops and helicopters buzzed overhead, he continued to provide the special forces with information.

After Catalano left the brothers prepared for the final reckoning.

Then, the phone rang and Chérif answered it. On the line was French journalist Igor Sahiri, of BFM TV.

Kouachi told him: "We are the defenders of the prophet and I, Chérif Kouachi, have been sent by al-Qaeda of Yemen . I went over there and Anwar al-Awlaki financed me."

Asked if he intended to kill more civilians, he replied: "Did we kill any civilians in the past two days when you were looking for us? Come on. We are not killers, we are the defenders of the prophet and we kill those who insult him."

Sahiri said Chérif had sounded as if he were "ready to die".

He said: "It was somebody very serene. He was very calm. It was just like a normal discussion, no rudeness. The way he was breathless made me feel that this guy was ready to die."

At around 5pm the police launched their assault on the building. Dramatic video footage shows flashes of light from rapid gunfire.

After a short but intense battle, both Kouachi brothers lay dead.

Yesterday Lepere was still recovering from his ordeal at his parents' home, a short distance from the scene of Friday's drama.

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