The former Nancy and Lens scorer is struggling to hide his emotion this Wednesday, May 3, 2023, at the helm of the Nancy Court of Appeal (Meurthe-et-Moselle). This second day of the trial of the Vairelles brothers, prosecuted for violence in meetings with premeditation and with a weapon, was devoted to the arrival of the oldest siblings, Fabrice and Tony, at the scene of the shooting and the altercation which followed with the bouncers, more than ten years ago, in October 2011, in the parking lot of the 4 AS nightclub, in Essey-lès-Nancy.
“In this case, there are injuries that we do not dispute, but I am formal: I have never fired in cold blood on these men, on the ground, whom I do not even know! “answers Tony Vairelles, 50, to President Vincent Totaro. Sobs in his voice, he continues: “It has been eating away at us for eleven years. My father died, without seeing his children cleared by justice…”
This night from October 22 to 23, 2011, Tony Vairelles is already in bed, with wife and child, when he is awakened by a call from his brother, Giovan. “I feel a big panic in his voice, he tells me that with Jimmy they got beaten up. With his wife’s DS3, he rushes to this nightclub where he has “never set foot”, located “900 m as the crow flies” from his home. In a rush, he “calls Fabrice, the eldest of the siblings”. In the parking lot, he picks up “the little ones” Giovan and Jimmy, as he affectionately calls them. A few moments later, Fabrice tumbles into his Laguna Bleue.
“The only question in this case is who fired? »
“Why did you and Fabrice go back to the parking lot when you had already picked up your little brothers? asks President Vincent Totaro. This is one of the main questions of this dossier. Tony Vairelles explains their presence in the parking lot by a misunderstanding between his brother and him: “Fabrice told me: Where is the little one? While I understand: Where did it happen?, and so I point to the nightclub, he goes in the direction of the parking lot, and I follow him… ”The former Nancy and Lens striker says he “regrets” this “error of assessment” on his part . “Without that, you wouldn’t be here,” said Deputy Attorney General Bernard Marchal.
Then, still according to him, “the bouncers come towards us”, one has “a telescopic baton in his hand”. Tony Vairelles then explains that he feels “a jet from behind”: he is “gassed”, “curls up” then he hears a “shot”, he is sure of it: a “single detonation”. At that time, he was reproached like his brothers for not having called the police. “Neither do the bouncers”, points out the president, visibly annoyed that we are focusing on this point: “We can certainly deplore it, but it is not proof of their guilt! The only question in this case is who fired? This is what gives the criminal connotation! »
“Of all my brothers, I am the most solvent”
If no weapon was found, “ballistics, it says that we cannot establish a certain culpability according to the residues of powder, taken 24 hours after the facts, on the sweatshirt of Fabrice Vairelles, that he wore while in police custody at the police station…” notes Me Frédéric Berna, one of the lawyers for the Vairelles clan.
Reheard, the four bouncers – the three Di Napoli brothers and their colleague Peter Gerdum – them, do not budge: it is Tony Vairelles who fired, they are formal. If the former French international (8 selections) does have a weapon at home, it is a long gun, bought to shoot with his wife, but the experts affirm it: the weapon used was a handgun, there is no possible doubt. “As a public person, do you think I will come and shoot men on the ground, with their faces uncovered, in front of the cameras? “He answers the president who wonders about the accusations made by the bouncers. “Why you then? “Because of all my brothers, I am the most solvent. »
The hypothesis of a 5th man at the heart of the debates
“If you didn’t shoot, the bouncers shot themselves?” ” ironically Me Schwartz, lawyer for the latter. For a time there was talk of Father Vairelles as a shooter, but Tony Vairelles sweeps away this version: “I would have called my 65-year-old father to come and defend me in a parking lot and pick up my brothers? It’s nonsense, he was in his bed! “The hypothesis of a fifth man, other than Guy Vairelles, has been mentioned several times, it is moreover always the thesis supported by the siblings. “But the one has never been identified or sought”, recognizes the president.
The video surveillance tape deposited with the investigators by the manager of the nightclub, 6 hours after the facts, would be the only one able to disentangle the true from the false, but it only contains the recording of a concert of the Enfoirés. At first instance, the four Vairelles brothers were sentenced to one and three years in prison, the three security guards to three and four months suspended. The requisitions are expected this Thursday morning.
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