At 48, ex-footballer Tony Vairelles will appear before the Nancy Criminal Court for a week for violence in meetings, with premeditation and with a weapon.
Three bouncers from Quatre as, a nightclub in the Nancy area, were shot and injured in October 2011 after a fight involving the former player and three of his brothers.
This case, which had resulted in several months of detention for the football international, had put a definitive end to his sports career.
It is a journey through time that the Nancy Criminal Court is about to undertake.
More than ten years after the shooting at the entrance to the Les Quatre as nightclub in the Nancy conurbation, the trial of the former star striker of RC Lens, Tony Vairelles, is due to open on Monday.
A "relief" for the former footballer involved in this brawl, who intends to be able to "finally explain" after an interminable procedure.
Like three of his brothers – Fabrice, Giovan and Jimmy – “Tony Goal” is being prosecuted for violence in meetings, with premeditation and with a weapon.
Facing them, four security guards have joined as civil parties but three will also have to answer for "aggravated violence" against cadets Vairelles, Giovan and Jimmy.
Blows, shots and three wounded
On October 25, 2011, it's amazement in Moselle.
Tony, a local figure, ex-glory of the Lens club and selected eight times for the France team, is indicted for "attempted murder".
Three of his brothers, all fed up with football at the instigation of the patriarch, Guy Vairelles, were also arrested and placed in police custody.
The facts go back to the night of October 22 to 23.
After a family celebration, Jimmy and Giovan take the road to the Quatre aces.
But in this nightclub in the suburbs of Nancy, the evening turns out badly.
Rudely expelled by the bouncers of the establishment, the two brothers call Tony and Fabrice, their elders, to the rescue.
When they arrive, shortly after 3 a.m., a fight breaks out between the guards and the siblings.
Blows rain down and then shots ring out in the parking lot.
The results are serious: three of the four bouncers are affected, one of them seriously.
Quickly sent to the scene, the police from the Nancy BAC night team noted the "confusion" that reigned among the customers of the box.
A bullet and a warhead are found on the ground, and the traces recovered at the scene – a pendant and a basketball belonging to the brothers of “Tony Goal” – direct the investigators to the Vairelles family.
Conflicting versions
Arrested the day after the shooting, Tony and his brothers are placed in pre-trial detention.
The ex-player with the famous mullet cut, who categorically denies being the source of the shots, will spend five months behind bars.
Over the months, the investigations bring to light the contradictions of some and the omissions of others.
According to the security guards, the Vairelles brothers attacked them with baseball bats and metal chains before shooting them.
A version firmly denied by Giovan, Jimmy, Fabrice and Tony who also have significant injuries and traces of blows.
Weapons will however be found at the home of the Lensois player but none correspond to the 22 caliber long rifle projectiles,
For the investigators, the difficulties accumulate.
The video surveillance device installed in the nightclub was not activated on the evening of the events.
And witnesses, present outside and inside the establishment, come to weaken the version delivered by the bouncers.
Contacted by
20 Minutes,
their lawyer did not respond to our requests.
In March 2012, Tony Vairelles was released and placed under judicial control.
But the case drags on and the years pass.
In 2018, the footballer's judicial review was finally lifted.
Two years later, new relief for the family: the investigating judge in charge of the case reclassifies the facts as "aggravated violence".
The siblings escape the assizes and will be tried by a criminal court.
distant memories
Marked by his detention, the former footballer will be able to “finally explain himself”, greets his lawyer, Me Virginie Barbosa, who represents the four brothers prosecuted.
“Obviously, my clients are stressed by this hearing but it is above all a relief for them.
They have been waiting to be able to express themselves for ten years and all have seen their lives turned upside down by this affair, ”she explains to
20 Minutes.
But the trial looks complicated.
“The length of the procedure necessarily complicates things.
Calling witnesses who are able to remember precisely the facts that took place so long ago is difficult, ”explains the lawyer.
To unravel the thread of this October 2011 evening, five days of hearings are scheduled before the Nancy Criminal Court.
At 48, Tony Vairelles faces up to ten years in prison.
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