Ex-skinhead "entered religion", robber David Gras tried after 7 years on the run
What did he do for seven years? How was David Gras able to escape justice during all these years, when he was placed on the list of "most wanted fugitives" of Europol (European Criminal Police Agency).
The trial that begins this Friday before the Assize Court of Douai (North) may bring answers to these questions. Hunted by all police in Europe for robbery and explosive robberies in the 2000s, the 48-year-old man ended up surrendering on August 2, 2018. On July 8, 2016, while he is still on the run, Gras was sentenced by default to 25 years in prison. "Absentees have always, wrong, it was easy to judge," laments his lawyer, Jerome Goudard. A judgment to which David Gras opposed. It is especially for the case that will give birth to his legend that he is judged this Friday: the murderous robbery of Orly (Val-de-Marne).
5:45 am, September 21, 2011. Nine attackers attack the CIT company with explosives. Giuseppe Di Carlo, a 54-year-old convoyer, is blown away by the blast. A death with which – his lawyer assures him – David Gras has "nothing to do". The robbers steal more than 8 million euros and manage to escape by opening fire on the police. One of the robbers, Serge Veron, considered as the "brain" of the operation, wounded in the legs by his own explosive charges, will be caught two weeks later, in a Belgian hospital. David Gras, identified as a member of the commando, evaporated in nature.
Seven years of a mystery of which we know very little. "A cavalcade borrows a lot of spirituality," says Jérôme Boudard. Between 2011 and 2018, David Gras converts to the orthodox religion. His surrender is "perfectly linked to the maturation of his responsibility because of his entry into religion." The lawyer describes a man who has "suffered psychologically" and today wishes to answer for his actions.
David Gras, an "atypical" personality according to the word of his council which emphasizes the extraordinary character of this affair. Because beyond the facts, it is the personality of his client that intrigues: the striking contrast between the stake man of 2019 and the skinhead of the 80s. Originally from Nevers (Nièvre), he rubs punk circles before flirting with the far-right ideology. A past with which his lawyer wishes to mark a break, recalling that he never joined a political party. He never even "voted".
"We create a legend"
It is in the prison of Fleury-Mérogis (Essonne), where he is serving a sentence for the robbery of a jewelery shop, that he meets Serge Veron and discovers the great banditry. He will carry out several robberies, some of them explosive, for which he wishes today to explain himself to justice. "He does not want to take things he has not done," says his lawyer. He has been offered a place which is not necessarily appreciable in the higher spheres of banditry; that's why we create a legend and it's not what he wants us to remember. " And to clarify that David Gras "completely cut the bridges with the contacts he could have a decade ago."
But who helped the fugitive to escape justice for seven years? The mystery could be resolved this Friday, if Gras agrees to answer questions. Me Goudard prefers to protect the secret of his client: "I know what he did, but it will be up to him to say. "
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