Death of Axelle Dorier: “When she wanted to remove the bumper she found a body”, said the father of the accused
On 19 July 2020, while he was going to Fourvière with his cousin to meet the girls he contacted via Snapchat, Youcef Tebbal hit Axelle Dorier and dragged her body, suspended under a car, for more than 800 m. “I didn’t see it, I never thought there was a body under the vehicle”, vowed Tuesday, before the Rhône Assize Court, the 24-year-old youth was tried for “violence with the use or threat of a weapon resulting in death without intent to give it He faced twenty years in prison.
His father, who has only spoken in court to describe his son, opened his heart to the media. He later returned to what Youcef Tebbal told him of the facts: “He told me he had stopped after 800 m to remove the bumper and that’s when he discovered that there was a body”. “He then froze for a few seconds before going to save his skin,” said the 60-year-old. She assured that her son “wouldn’t hurt anyone”, blaming the fact of “being in the wrong place at the wrong time”. For the father of five, his son Youcef must choose between “running away” or “dying” in front of “bad guys” who attacked his car.
“Talking the Truth”
During private interrogation, during the first day of the hearing, the defendant turned to the victim’s mother, father and two brothers. “I want to apologize and convey my condolences,” he told this family, through tears, gathered on the first bench of the room. “I imagined it was my own sister, I’m really sorry,” he repeated several times. For her, “it’s a nightmare”, he assures her “never [il n’a] want to take his life.
Early in the session, the court recalled that the man, then a delivery driver, was not “disputing the fact of the matter but voluntary”. During four days of trial, she had to “speak the truth in a hostile climate, against the views of the family”, emphasized her lawyer David Metaxas who said again with certainty that his client “didn’t see” Axelle when he beat her. . But after ?
Because if he said he didn’t understand that the young woman’s body remained stuck under the car he was driving, he still stopped on his way to escape when he understood that her car was having driving problems. In particular, 807 m from the scene, at the entrance to the Gallo-Roman theater, where there are video surveillance cameras. For the parking lot, he said he was still in the vehicle, just like his passenger, Mohamed Yelloule. The accused stated that he only became aware of the body lying on the ground by looking “in the rearview mirror” from rue l’Antiquaille. He realized at that moment “that he had bumped into and dragged someone”.
Axelle’s blood stains on her shirt
In the investigation files, the videotape only provides “part” elements of the facts. “The camera turns itself on very quickly,” said the president of the assize court. “At 3:39 a.m., we saw a parking lot in front of the entrance, then the viewpoint changed. At 3:40 a.m., the vehicles backed up, stopped to let a car pass and then drove away. Twice, when maneuvering, the right front of the vehicle lifted. At 03:41, the Golf left the scene and we can see the body on the road, where its front is up. »
Police called for a story about the dog that was run over, from which “it all started” according to witnesses, who were convinced for them, had seen two youths outside the vehicle as they passed their level, at the same time. They didn’t stop to check it out, expected further, but slowed down for a few seconds. “They don’t seem panicked,” assured Jérémy Villeneuve, the peacekeeper, who intervened that night. This undermines the version that Youcef Tebbal would pass on to his father, who recounted that he had been “panicked by a crowd of twenty people ready to kill him”.
Commander Isabelle Huguet, who was in charge of the flagrance investigation, also clarified during her trial, that “Golf didn’t catch up”, then parked 800m further. Another disturbing fact, apart from the statements of the defendants, the investigators highlighted the presence of Axelle’s blood on Youcef Tebbal’s shirt. “He must have come close to his body under the car, no doubt to let him go”, said the prosecutor in the order of reference.
The forensic pathologist and accident expert who hears Wednesday can help clarify these points during the trial.
