Three groups of friends who spent the evening in a discotheque, a few hours after a victory for the French team in the World Cup. Before everything changed, for a beast altercation still not explained. We are on July 6, 2018, in Rennes. At the exit of the L’Espace disco, Dorian Guémené lies in his blood in front of the door of the establishment. He died the next day within the walls of Pontchaillou hospital, succumbing to the violence of the kicks and punches. For the family of the young bartender from Kenland, the whole issue of the trial which opened on Monday is to know who delivered the last blows resulting in death. On the dock, the six men try to clear customs. Each one tries in turn to make his truth heard.
The one on whom the heaviest suspicions weigh is called Sacha. That evening, he went out with his father, his brother, and two friends. Out of the box, he wants to join the girlfriend of his brother Stanislas, who works at L’Espace. He then crosses paths with Dorian Guémené and his friend Kévin, getting confused with two young students without history. For some as yet undetermined reason, the two small groups unite to beat Kevin and Dorian. One will get away with bruises and manage to run to the nightclub to get help. Dorian, an uneventful 24-year-old boy, will not have the same luck and give up his life. All day Wednesday, the Assize Court of Ille-et-Vilaine tried to disentangle the true from the false. After their arrest, the first four defendants had invented a bogus version. “We didn’t even believe it”. But all will deliver her in police custody, before each one specifies his role.
One of the defendants already convicted of violence of the same type
Of the six accused, only one is not tried for murder. Alexandre was a little on the sidelines at the time of the incident. He did not see the latest blows to Dorian. But he saw those around him at the time, effectively ruling out their involvement in the young bartender’s death. His testimony overwhelms Sacha, a man already involved in violence of the same type a few years earlier.
“I saw him come back from the boulevard. He had blood on his jacket. It was a big stain of blood. At this moment, we cannot imagine everything that happened. He was pissed off. He didn’t say anything and went to his brother ”.
The four men will take the car to return to Chantepie, where one of them resides. In the vehicle, Sacha would have said a few words. “He became quite pale, on the verge of crying and confessed to having left him lying on the ground”, assures the one who was then his friend. Another corroborates. “He was livid. At the corner of the street, he said to me: I think he is dead. I stole my head and saw the body, ”Thomas said.
It is all the violence that cost the life of the young barman
Shortly after, Sacha explains to him that he had given Dorian “two kicks in the head”. “I know Sacha was there. As long as he does not want to accept the fact that he was there, we will not move forward, ”he adds.
Was Sacha alone? The question was at the heart of the debate at the end of Wednesday. His brother Stanislas swears that he did not deal a single blow to Dorian but only to his friend Kévin. Just like Thomas. The stake of the blows carried or not is high. According to the forensic scientist, it is all the violence that cost the life of the young bartender. Alexis, a young student with no history, did he join forces with Sacha to deliver blows that turned out to be fatal, when the two men did not know each other? His friend Guillaume seems to think not. “What I hope from this trial is who delivered the final blow. It’s up to the four to say. May this truth come out for the family ”. “Will she come out of the debates? “Asks the president. “I don’t think so,” replies the one who was just 18 years old.
“I wanted to put loyalty before the truth”
The question of truth was seriously challenged throughout the investigation. First, because all the protagonists had developed false testimonies each on their own. And that several clothes that could be stained with blood have disappeared. Or because many of them have changed their version over the hearings before the examining magistrate.
“Yes I lied. We all knew that Sacha had struck blows, we had to keep quiet about the fact that he was on the Boulevard de la Tour-d’Auvergne. I wanted to put the loyalty of friends before the truth, ”revealed Thomas. The hearings will continue until late at night this Wednesday. Sacha’s testimony, the main accused, will be eagerly awaited.