The Dunkirk criminal court on Wednesday sentenced the local hockey club and the association which managed the ice rink to fines, ten years after the death of a child hit by a puck in the head during a match.
The Federation relaxed
The court found the two associations guilty, prosecuted for involuntary manslaughter, finding faults of recklessness and breaches of security obligations.
On the other hand, he acquitted the French Ice Hockey Federation (FFHG), considering that there were not enough elements to characterize a fault on its part.
In accordance with the prosecution’s requisitions, the court sentenced the Dunkerque Détente association, which managed the ice rink, to a fine of 50,000 euros, including 20,000 suspended, and the association which managed the Dunkerque club to 50,000 euros, including 30,000 euros. suspended.
No nets
On November 1, 2014, Hugo, 8 years old, himself a hockey player in the Dunkirk “Corsaires” under-9 team, was hit behind the ear by a puck taken out of the playing area while that he was on a bench near the stands, shortly before the end of a Division 1 match between Dunkirk and Reims.
During the hearing last month, the president insisted on the accidents already caused by the release of pucks before this tragedy in this same enclosure, in the absence, in particular, of nets.
The prosecutor, for her part, apologized to Hugo’s family for the length of the procedure, saying that this delay was “not normal”.
The family is “relieved that this decision puts an end to ten years of proceedings, that everyone’s responsibilities are determined,” their lawyer David Dhote reacted on Wednesday. “The ten years of proceedings were very long, we wondered whether prosecutions would take place,” he stressed.
Ice rink destroyed
For the lawyer of the Dunkirk hockey club, Pierre Cortier, this decision leaves “a taste of unfinished business”, due to the absence of proceedings against the town hall, owner of the ice rink which, according to him, was aware of its dilapidated condition. , and the release of the FFHG.
“The two associations could do little to effectively organize security, particularly with regard to these rickety railings which allowed the puck to pass through,” he said.
This ice rink was destroyed in 2019 and replaced by a more modern one. Weighing 170 g, a hockey puck can reach a speed of 175 km/h.
