Kidnapping of Jacqueline Veyrac: 18 years imprisonment for the main organizer

An Italian restaurateur with a "

frustrated ego

", main organizer of the kidnapping in Nice in 2016 of Jacqueline Veyrac, a wealthy hotelier of 80 years, to avenge her failure at the head of a great gastronomic address, was sentenced on Wednesday to 18 years of criminal imprisonment.

To read also: Abduction of Jacqueline Veyrac: an ex-paparazzi claims to have been "unwittingly involved in something sordid"

Thirty years of imprisonment had been required against this talkative man of 67 years, Giuseppe Serena, tried with 12 co-accused since January 4 by the Assize Court of the Alpes-Maritimes and considered as "

the instigator

" of this kidnapping and of a previous attempt in 2013. "

Very high requisitions, equivalent to the death penalty, given his age and his fragile health

", had denounced his lawyer Me Corentin Delobel, "

stunned

" after the verdict.

"

In my opinion, we will appeal

", he added, contesting "

a disproportionate decision

".

Became manager of

La Réserve

in 2007

, a legendary seaside restaurant that Jacqueline Veyrac had rented to him, Giuseppe Serena had been successful but sunk the business in less than two years through his mismanagement, blaming the Veyrac family , also owner of the Grand Hôtel, a five-star hotel on the Croisette in Cannes.

At the trial, he ended up apologizing and confessing responsibility for the kidnapping: “

no, it was not hatred (...) and not thirst for money either.

Yes, maybe my frustrated ego

”.

He also surprised the court with his nerve: "I apologize and I kiss you and I say to you as I said at the time of La Réserve"

Thank you Aunt Jacqueline

! ", He told Jacqueline Veyrac to greet her as she left the room after coming to testify.

Jacqueline Veyrac had come soberly to tell her ordeal, tied up 48 hours at the bottom of a Renault Kangoo parked in an isolated street before managing to free herself without paying ransom.

Discreet during the first kidnapping attempt, she had filed a complaint without saying anything.

The investigation had stalled, despite a DNA torn from a clawed kidnapper.

"

Your nails were precious, madam

", will thank her at the hearing the president of the court.

Confused by this DNA and also involved in the organization of the 2016 kidnapping, Philip Dutton, 52, a Briton without resources, was sentenced to 14 years in prison.

A former soldier who came from the island of Jersey to Nice baited by the prospect of a ransom, he helped the investigation by confessing, perhaps not all, but from the start.

The three henchmen recruited in the sensitive district of Moulins to kidnap Jacqueline Veyrac near her home were sentenced for two of them to 14 years imprisonment, a sentence increased to 15 years for the third because of his heavy criminal record.

The court ruled on the particular case of Luc Goursolas, 50, “

an astonishing character

” according to the general counsel who had requested between 4 and 8 years in prison against him.

Known in the editorial staff as "

the friend of the police

", this sulphurous former Nice paparazzi had placed GPS beacons under the victim's car.

“

You are not going back to prison,

” the president of the court Patrick Veyron told him, pronouncing a two-year sentence, one of which was suspended.

Luc Goursolas was facing life imprisonment for complicity in kidnapping but the court only found him guilty of not having denounced Philip Dutton and Giuseppe Serena.

He claimed to have been asked to follow the adulterous lover of Giuseppe Serena as part of his unofficial activities as a private detective.

The Assize Court pronounced five acquittals in this case, in particular for a young mechanic from Les Moulins nicknamed "

the fat one

" whose DNA had been found on the tape and the mattress used for the kidnapping.

On the other hand, she condemned for criminal conspiracy the intermediary who introduced the Moulins team to Giuseppe Serena to 4 years in prison, and an Italian acquaintance of the latter to 17 months in prison.

Greatly absent from the trial and considered the third brain of the kidnapping, Enrico Fontanella, 67, former butler and old acquaintance of the main accused, saw his case disjointed for health reasons.