Xavier Gourgues claims to have been beaten up last Saturday by a group of hunters, after complaining of rifle fire too close to his home during a search.
The hunters refute this version, claiming that they hunted a kilometer from his home, and that they never hit him.
An investigation has been opened by the Libourne prosecutor's office.
Xavier Gourgues claims to have dealt with “a real human pack.
For hunters, it's a story built from scratch with the aim of surfing on "hunting bashing".
This resident of Lussac, a village located a few kilometers from Libourne and Saint-Emilion (Gironde) claims to have been beaten up last Saturday by a group of hunters, after complaining of rifle fire too close to his home.
“I have it really bad, confides Xavier Gourgues to
20 Minutes
.
Today [Wednesday] I'm recovering, the bruises are diminishing, but it still hurts in my face, I'm dragging my leg, and my collarbone is painful.
Eight days of ITT were issued to him.
“I looked at my wife and we immediately understood that it was going to shoot everywhere”
What happened ?
The 48-year-old man, a sturdy man of 1.85 meters and more than 100 kg, says he was "planting lavender" in his garden with his wife and five-year-old son, "when suddenly, we saw a veritable wagonload of vehicles rushing by, made up of 4x4s and vans.
“I looked at my wife and we didn't need to talk to each other: we immediately understood that it was a fight and that there was going to be shooting everywhere.
The dogs were let loose, and began to approach our garden, which is 4,000 m2 and overlooks the valley of the vines.
»
The rifle fire then started.
“My son was in a panic, we thought we were going to take one.
I got fed up, because it had already happened last year, I went to the end of my garden and I screamed with all my might while jumping in the air: "Are you going to stop your bullshit? You're fed up, there are people living here, you're going to end up shooting at us!"
I got insulted back…”
“A burning smell around the garden”
Xavier Gourgues assures that he had “a hunter less than forty meters” from him, “two others on [his] left less than 200 meters, and four others further.
The legislation on the subject is very clear, and prohibits hunting within 150 meters of the dwellings of the municipalities known as ACCA (communal association of approved hunting), which is the case of Lussac.
"It's a web of lies, assures Fernando Padrao, president of the ACCA of Lussac, also joined by
20 Minutes
.
We were not near his house, but a kilometer away.
»
Xavier Gourgues says he "continued to scream, but that didn't stop them, it was shooting and it was still shooting.
"There was a burning smell all around the garden, it hissed from left to right," he continues.
I told my wife and my son to quickly go and hide in the house, I called the gendarmerie giving them my address, then I went to get my car to find the hunters who were 500 meters away.
Without waiting for the gendarmes, therefore.
“I got beaten up everywhere”
The local resident and the hunters agree on one point: Xavier Gourgues honked his horn when he arrived to meet them.
For the rest, two diametrically opposed versions clash.
“They were posted at the top of a ditch, says the local resident, a first group of five hunters approached me, then others joined them, and regrouped in front of me.
I yelled at them, I asked them when they were going to stop their bullshit, I was insulted, threatened, and one even told me that they had the right to hunt where they wanted, when they wanted.
»
This is where the violence allegedly began.
“One twisted my arm, others pushed me, I started pushing them back, but I never hit.
Suddenly I took a big punch in the temple.
I then wanted to photograph their license plates, but one of them took my cell phone, so I charged like a mule and we fell with one of the hunters.
»
That's where I got beaten up all over, I got kicked, punched, in the ribs, in the thighs, in the shoulder, in the face... And I took a bugle too.
»
He continues: “I just had to wait for it to stop.
Then there is one who said: "Stop, stop", but I still took two or three blows.
They were a good fifteen in all, even if they did not all hit.
»
"He was injured because he fell head first", argue the hunters
For Fernando Padrao, who himself lodged a complaint against Xavier Gourgues, the latter "drove with his vehicle into a group of hunters, when the hunt was over".
“He got out of his car and jostled five or six hunters, he was very angry, so I intervened to try to calm him down, he jostled me, telling me he was going to hunt me down like the others.
He pushed me, I fell in the ditch with him, that's where he got hurt because he fell head first with his glasses which broke, which cut him.
He had blood when he got up, but no hunter raised a hand on him.
He kept saying he was 110 kg, that he was going to hunt us down, that we were just illiterate and drunks.
»
After this sequence, several hunters would also have taken photos and videos of the scene and the victim.
“At the time I was groggy, continues Xavier Gourgues.
Then I heard the police sirens, and at the same time about ten cars left, there were only four or five left.
When they arrived, the gendarmes asked me to calm down, I was certainly excited but I was still the victim.
“The gendarmes saw someone very excited, and they ordered him to get into his vehicle to calm down,” assures the president of the hunting association.
“What this man described on the hunting conditions is impossible, supports Guillaume Desenfant, the communication manager of the Gironde hunting federation, we will wait for the results of the investigation, but we are quite suspicious. on the story he was able to tell.
»
"I'm a real country man, a guy from here, not a neo-rural"
Xavier Gourgues for his part refutes being “an anti-hunting.
I'm a real country man, a guy from here, not a neo-rural or a Parisian as I read, even if everyone has the right to live there by the way.
Director of research in medical imaging, he has lived in his house in Lussac for a little over two years.
"I've always lived with hunting, but this was a hunt, it's a very special exercise, because there are dozens of hunters who suddenly land with packs of dogs to surround the beast and shoot it with heavy caliber.
»
This resident believes that hunting conditions should be better regulated, which should “be done at a minimum of 500 meters from dwellings”.
“There, we are imposed these packs and gunshots morning and evening on weekends.
We can no longer walk around our house, ”he laments.
Seven people have already been heard as part of the gendarmerie investigation opened by the Libourne prosecutor's office.
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