7 defendants and 19 victims. There were more than 50 people who came to support the civil parties. Family or friends who could not all get into the courtroom, but we feel voltage. The 7 young men, arrested on Wednesday and placed in police custody, arrive handcuffed, surrounded by 14 constables. They appear for violence in meeting. The ITT (temporary or total incapacity for work) for the victims will from 1 to 21 days. The defendants are all asking for a delay. Defense lawyers denounce a procedure too fast for such a complex matter. “We only had the file this morning at 6:45 am, impossible to prepare a defense under these conditions”, whispers a lawyer. The trial is postponed until June 30.
They jumped with both feet on a man on the ground” – the prosecutor
On the evening of May 8, it’s the final of the French Cup football match between Nantes and Nice. The Oh’tuyaux bar in the artisanal zone of Saint-Brevin-les-Pins is full to bursting. “It’s a festive atmosphere, good child” says the prosecutor. When it closes, a fight breaks out. One of the defendants claims to have been insulted. The blows go very quickly, and everything degenerates. “Everyone got involved” says the president, the report of the gendarmes of Pornic under the eyes. This is a scene from a great violence which then takes place. Kickspunches, one pepper spray came out, then a brass knuckles and finally a machete. “A machete, an ice ax, or a small ice-breaking hammer that we find on buses, we don’t really know. And we haven’t found the weapon anyway”, confided to us a defense lawyer. The prosecutor says that some jumped with both feet on a man on the groundthat a victim has lost 5 teethanother al’ear gouged outa 31-year-old man attacked in the back with this bladed weapon is still in hospital, seriously injured, he presents a pneumothorax. “The witnesses, some filmed the scene, were very shocked. It’s gratuitous violence” insists the prosecutor who asks for their continued detention.
Some defendants in police custody acknowledge the facts, show remorse and regret. Not all according to the report. They have 19, 20, 21 years old. Only one older, 36 years old. Three have criminal records for driving without a license, speeding, drunk, under the influence of narcotics, or drug use. But 4 others have a clean record. They are interim or in CDI, docker, carpenter, welder at Chantiers de l’Atlantique. The Defense pleads to sever the files.
A single defendant placed under a warrant of committal, the court separates the files
The hearing is adjourned to June 30. Only one defendant was placed under warrant of deposit, suspected of being the stabbing assailant. The other 6 were released but placed under judicial control with prohibition to enter a drinking establishment, to come into contact between them or with the victims.