- Thirteen people were tried before the Assize Court of the Alpes-Maritimes for kidnapping and sequestration, in October 2016, of Jacqueline Veyrac in Nice.
- This wealthy owner of hotels on the Côte d’Azur will come to tell this Thursday these forty-eight hours spent in the back of a van “with fear of death ”.
- The alleged sponsor, an Italian of 67 years, “is serene and anxious to explain the truth and to be exonerated “, According to his lawyer.
The one who has always been “naturally discreet” according to her lawyer should not be present until Thursday at the four-week trial which opened on Monday before the Assize Court es Alpes-Maritimes. The wife of business of Nice Jacqueline Veyrac, 80 years today, will face it 13 accused, including his alleged kidnappers, to recount the forty-eight hours spent in the back of a van “with the fear of death”.
“She still does not understand such hatred, she is in the mind of someone who has suffered a lot and who wants to finally turn the page »more than four years after this day of 20 October 2016, explained Me Luc Febbraro. That Monday, in front of the garage of her home in Nice, this wealthy owner of hotels on the Côte d’Azur was kidnapped, three years after a first abortive attempt.
She is tied up, gagged and blinded at the bottom of a Renault Kangoo. Sequestered west of Nice in this vehicle while a ransom demand was sent to her son without ever reaching him, she was not found and released until two days later by a passerby.
Revenge and greed 
In the box of the accused, the alleged sponsor of this kidnapping, a ruined and resentful Italian restaurateur who has always denied his involvement, had not yet been heard by the court this Monday evening , after a long reminder of the instruction. “He is calm and eager to explain the truth and be exonerated,” his lawyer said. “The others gave his name when the kidnapping messed up but having a motive is not enough to condemn an individual who has been claiming his innocence for four years”, declared Me Corentin Delobel.
Giuseppe Serena, 67 years, is prosecuted for “complicity in kidnapping and attempted organized gang extortion”. He faces life imprisonment. Fired in 2009 by Jacqueline Veyrac from the restaurant La Réserve, a restaurant by the sea in Nice whose he had the management with his Finnish lover, the Italian would have harbored a persistent grudge for the businesswoman. According to the prosecution, the kidnapping and ransom could have enabled him, in addition to revenge, to finance the purchase of a new restaurant.
The civil parties, and in particular the two children of Jacqueline Veyrac, hope to obtain explanations during the trial. “We would all be happy to have something which could resemble sincerity and which can appease the businesswoman, detailed her lawyer.
An English homeless man and a former paparazzi
Sick, the main accused entered the box this Monday visibly weakened. Beside him, also imprisoned, Philip Dutton, 52 years , has never ceased to point out Giuseppe Serena as the instigator of the facts. This English homeless man, formerly of the special forces, is also on trial for the first kidnapping attempt for which he also overwhelms the Italian.
Luc Goursolas, 50 years old, former paparazzi turned private detective, is also part of the incriminated commando. Presented free at the hearing, it is he who is accused of having equipped the hotelier’s 4×4 with GPS beacons, allowing its removal at the most convenient time.
In total, fingerprints and DNA traces found during the investigations allowed the investigators to send back to the assizes fourteen accused, plus a minor at the time of the facts, who will be tried in the juvenile court.
This Monday, thirteen individuals were present before the jurors. The case of the 13 th accused, Enrico Fontanella, 52 years, suspected of having also participated in the preparation for kidnapping, was disjointed due to serious health problems.