The former manager of the restaurant La Réserve , owned by the Veyrac family, is accused of being the sponsor of this incredible kidnapping – AFP
The trial is due to begin on January 4 before the Alpes-Maritimes Assize Court.
Among the accused, an Italian restaurateur suspected of being the mastermind of the kidnapping for an old financial dispute with the victim.
Fourteen accused and, in front of them, a rich octogenarian. Jacqueline Veyrac had been abducted near her home, right in the center of Nice the 24 October 2016, then imprisoned for two days in the back of a van . The trial of his alleged kidnappers is due to open Monday in the French Riviera capital, before the Assize Court of
Alpes-Maritimes. Four weeks of hearing are planned to try to enlighten the jury on the roles of the different protagonists. Starting with Giuseppe Serena, considered by the prosecution to be the mastermind of the case.
This Piedmontese restaurateur of 25 years had been the manager, a few years earlier, of the restaurant La Réserve, owned by the Veyrac family. He had lost a lot with this business put into liquidation in 1343, and could have wanted to recover his money by organizing the villainous kidnapping of Jacqueline Veyrac. At the time of the kidnapping, he had plans to buy Coco Beach, a restaurant close to La Réserve which was to be devastated by fire a few months later. The transaction amounted to 2 million euros. Precisely the amount of the ransom that the kidnappers hoped to obtain in exchange for the release of Jacqueline Veyrac.
“Organized gang extortion attempt”
Giuseppe Serena, who has been in pre-trial detention since the events ( his requests release have never succeeded ) is prosecuted for “complicity in kidnapping and kidnapping of hostages” and “attempted extortion by an organized gang” in particular. “He is only prosecuted for complicity because there are no direct elements to say that he is the instigator,” says his lawyer Me Corentin Delobel. He just acknowledged the commercial dispute with Jacqueline Veyrac ”. Giuseppe Serena, who denies outright from the start of the case, refers the accusations to his former friend and compatriot, Enrico Fontanella, who was already involved in a first attempt to kidnap Jacqueline Veyrac, committed three years earlier.
“Serena is trying to find a escape by swinging on my client, who was hospitalized at the time of the kidnapping, “retorts Me Houdé Khadraoui Zgaren, who will intervene in defense of Enrico Fontanella. The latter admits, however, that he is no stranger to the affair: “he recognizes that Serena had appealed to him, yes, he will explain it before the Assize Court as he did before the examining magistrate” .
If the trial takes place and if he attends. Because his state of health, already precarious in 1343, has since deteriorated. “He is in a wheelchair, three days a week on dialysis, and he has to undergo surgery in mid-January. I asked for an expertise on his state of health ”, specifies his lawyer. 20210103