Four years of investigation, three hours of deliberations (lunch included) and five years in prison. This Wednesday, December 18, the 7th chamber of the Marseille criminal court, competent in the fight against banditry, declared Lucas Tocheport, 24, guilty of attempted arson and participation in a criminal association.
Aged 20 at the time of the facts, the defendant was also sentenced to a fine of €10,000 and a five-year ban on carrying a weapon and from Corsica. A sentence in accordance with the requisitions of prosecutor Olivier Capaccio for whom this file is an example of “Corsican organized crime which uses a fire to send a message or to carry out revenge”.
In the early stages of the investigation, however, the facts could be compared to a classic common law case, concedes the representative of the public prosecutor. Woke up incidentally shortly after two in the morning, this July 20, 2020, the daughter of the owners of the restaurant A Macciotta, in Centuri (Haute-Corse), was surprised by a strong smell of gasoline. Looking out the window, she saw a man spraying the terrace of the establishment specializing in lobster. Frightened by the young woman’s cry, he then fled without looking back before getting into a Clio, on the driver’s side.
A few minutes later, the vehicle was found damaged and set on fire, not far from the village of Cap Corse. “At first, the trail of a former employee recently dismissed was exploited, but it was quickly abandoned, the latter being on the continent on the evening of the incident”rewinds the president of the court, Christel Estienne-Garcia.
A “vendetta” opposing the Codaccioni and Guazzelli clans
On site, prints were found, including those of Lucas Tocheport. Already convicted in 2022 for throwing molotov cocktails on the sidelines of a high school demonstration in Corte, the defendant is presented as a member of the Corsican criminal gang known as “Africans” at the head of which the investigative services place Jean- Luc Codaccioni junior.
