Jean Alesi, former Formula 1 driver, had been taken into custody, with his son, Monday, December 20 in Avignon (Vaucluse), where he was heard by the police for having detonated a large firecracker against the office window of his brother-in-law, AFP learned from the prosecution. Released, like his son, on Tuesday, he was referred to the criminal court and will be tried “for damage to the property of others by a means dangerous for people, act committed within the framework of a family conflict“in 2023, Nîmes public prosecutor Eric Maurel told AFP. Jean Alesi’s son, who accompanied him, will be prosecuted for complicity in the same affair.
The facts occurred in Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, the city of Gard where the 57-year-old former Ferrari driver resides. The police had been called Sunday, December 19 around 10 p.m. by the neighborhood, worried by the sound of an explosion. Thanks to the license plate number noted by a neighbor, the police were able to determine that the vehicle seen on the spot before leaving with all lights out belonged to José Alesi, the brother of the ex-pilot, who was arrested.
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The former Scuderia driver then went to the police station on Monday, December 20, where he cleared his brother’s customs, explaining that it was he who was in the car, with his son and a friend of the latter. , and that he himself had stuck a “big fireworks bought in Italy” in the frame of a window of the architect’s office of his brother-in-law, “without imagining causing such damage”, explained the deputy prosecutor of Nîmes, Antoine Wolff, to AFP.
Jean Alesi, who completed 13 seasons in Formula 1 for a grand prix victory, explained that he only wanted to make a “bad joke” to his brother-in-law, in the process of separation from his sister, ensuring that he is not in dispute with him.
The brother-in-law, who says he has “no problem” with Jean Alesi, however, filed a complaint for the degradation of the frame of his window, said Mr. Wolff. “I am quite skeptical of the notion of a ‘joke’ performed at 10 p.m., without the person concerned knowing who it is“, added the deputy prosecutor of Nîmes.