The Dunkirk Corsairs, residents of Division 1, the second national level, will be tried in correctional with the French Ice Hockey Federation for manslaughter. The date has not yet been set, said Pierre Cortier, the club’s lawyer, to AFP.
The facts date back to November 2, 2014 during a Division 1 match between Dunkirk and Reims. Hugo, 8, was in the stands to support the Corsairs. He had been hit in the ear by a puck ejected outside the playing area. The boy had succumbed to his injury in the city hospital. At the time, it was not compulsory to install high barriers all around the pitch, but only behind the goals.
The town hall not prosecuted
The association responsible for managing the ice rink will also be referred to the criminal court. On the other hand, the town hall of Dunkirk, placed under the status of assisted witness in this procedure, is not prosecuted. This surprised the club’s lawyer, Me Cortier.
He already mentioned the role of the town hall when the club’s indictment was announced in 2018: “We believe that the responsibility must be shared at this stage with the municipality – which was aware of the state of dilapidation of the ice rink – , the operator who never wanted to put plexiglass along the balustrades and also the French federation which imposed plexiglass for the Magnus league but not for the lower divisions. »
The young Hugo was part of the under-9 team of the Corsairs. After his death, an annual tournament in his memory was created.
