Crans-Montana bar owner warned of risks before tragic fire

Jacques and Jessica Moretti before a hearing with the Valais public prosecutor’s office last month. Keystone / Alessandro Della Valle

Six years before the tragic fire on January 1, the owner of the bar Le Constellation wrote to his employees that the sparklers could set the bar on fire. This message raises the question of whether he should be charged with manslaughter.

The WhatsApp message is dated November 12, 2019, and was sent by Jacques Moretti, the owner of the bar Le Constellation, to his employees.

In it, Moretti accuses one of his employees of giving a sparkler to a guest: “Don’t give sparklers to guests. The guest left it unattended on the table! If it falls on the floor or on the sofas, the Constellation will burn down …”.

This WhatsApp message, which came to the attention of Swiss public television RTS, is now part of the criminal investigation file.

Jacques Moretti’s text is reminiscent of one sent a month later by his wife, Jessica: “All right! If the guests want sparklers, keep a very close eye on them and stay with them until the sparkler has gone out. Because if it falls on the sofa or the floor, or if they hold it up and set the foam on the ceiling on fire, the ‘Constellation’ will burn down…”

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Two weeks later, on January 1, 2020, a server at the establishment warned customers in a video released by RTS. “Watch out for the foam,” he told a group of young people who had ordered bottles with sparklers.

For several attorneys representing the victims’ families, these various messages confirm that the Morettis were aware of the risk associated with using these sparkler candles but accepted it nonetheless. In the view of these lawyers, the Morettis should therefore now be charged with murder with conditional intent, rather than merely negligent homicide.

The Morettis’ lawyers’ response

When contacted, the Morettis’ lawyers offered a very different interpretation of the message written by Jacques Moretti. They first pointed out that they were the ones who handed it over to the prosecutors.

“The Morettis have been accused of failing to provide instructions. Wrongly so! The messages are there and show that they were aware of the risks – obviously – but the risks that any business owner faces, such as a fire, damage, or property loss. When candles or an oven are left on, failing to consider the risk would be reckless!” wrote attorneys Yaël Hayat, Nicola Meier, and Patrick Michod in an email.

In their view, it would be inconceivable to charge their clients with murder based on conditional intent. “Neither these messages nor the rest of the proceedings suggest the slightest hint of conditional intent – quite the contrary. For this concept corresponds to genuine intent and presupposes that one foresaw a risk of death and accepted it. To apply it here would be judicial heresy. […] Between someone who fears a risk and someone who accepts death lies the entire gulf that separates a business owner from a murderer.”

A crucial question

In this case, the question of awareness of the risk of death associated with the use of sparklers is crucial. Today, the Moretti couple faces less than five years in prison. But if the prosecutors charge them with murder with conditional intent, they could face up to twenty years in prison.

The prosecutors have until the end of the preliminary investigation to decide whether or not to upgrade the charges against the bar owners.

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Translated from French, reviewed by an English Department journalist.