Furious households ATTACK house owners of Swiss inferno nightclub the place kids burned to dying: Terror is etched on feminine supervisor’s face as mother and father scream ‘you killed my son – you may pay for this’

Furious family members of the New Year’s Swiss nightclub fire victims attacked the owners this morning as parents blamed them for their children’s deaths.

As Jacques and Jessica Moretti arrived at the prosecutor’s office in Sion for their fourth day of questioning, dozens of grieving relatives swarmed around the building’s entrance wearing clothing bearing images of their deceased loved ones.

The pair, who have pinned the blame on a waitress who also died in the fire, are under judicial supervision following the inferno which killed 41 people and injured 115 others at Le Constellation in the ski resort of Crans-Montana on January 1. 

As they made their way into the building to testify on Thursday morning, several relatives rushed towards the pair, who were flanked by just a police officer and their lawyer.

‘It was a real mob. The Morettis… had hardly any protection when the relatives’ anger erupted. Everyone rushed at the innkeepers, who were pushed against the building’s wall and couldn’t get away,’ a reporter at the scene told 20 Minuten.

Angry relatives hurled insults towards the pair as they cowered behind their lawyer, with one sobbing parent heard yelling: ‘You killed my son, you killed 40 people, you will pay for this’.

Ms Moretti, 40, appeared close to tears as she waded through the mob, and the brother of one of the 17-year-old victims, Trystan, even allegedly attempted to kick her after repeatedly asking her to look him in the eye.

Trystan’s mother, Vinciane Stucky, who was also present this morning, told local media: ‘We will neither forgive nor forget.’

‘I’m here for Trystan,’ said his father, Christian Podoux. ‘I want Jessica Moretti to know how hard she has hit fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters. She distanced herself, left the Constellation. Others, the young people, helped so much, and she just left. That’s not right.’ 

The teenage victim’s younger siblings, Tobyas, 14, and Yaelle, 15, were also present alongside their parents as they joined the raging crowd upon the Morettis’ arrival.

‘We want Jessica Moretti to apologise,’ they told local reporters. ‘I’m Trystan’s little brother, and I came here to show Jessica Moretti that she has destroyed families, to look us in the eye.’ 

Tobyas added: ‘What happened isn’t normal. We want justice. Moretti is undoubtedly guilty, as are the municipality of Crans-Montana and the canton of Valais.’

The French couple have firmly blamed their young staff for causing the inferno and blocking an escape exit, with leaked interview records pointing to them saying: ‘It’s not us, it’s the others’.

The Morettis’ defence strategy during some 20 hours of interrogation by three prosecutors was, in particular, to blame waitress Cyane Panine, 24, for getting onto the shoulders of a colleague while brandishing two champagne bottles with lit sparklers inside.

Cyane, who died in the fire, was wearing a promotional crash helmet and did not see the pyrotechnics lighting up the bar’s basement ceiling, which was covered in highly flammable foam.

Referring to the champagne sparklers stunt, which was filmed, Mr Moretti told the enquiry that it was ‘Cyane’s show’.

‘I didn’t forbid her from doing that,’ he told prosecutors, adding: ‘I didn’t make her pay attention to safety instructions. We didn’t see the danger. Cyane liked doing that – it was a show, she liked to be part of the show.’

She previously claimed: ‘Cyane liked to deliver these bottles – she did it of her own accord.

‘If I had thought there was the slightest risk, I would have forbidden it. In ten years of running the business, I never thought there could be any danger.’

The French couple is under criminal investigation, facing charges of manslaughter by negligence, bodily harm by negligence, and arson by negligence.

They face up to 20 years in prison if charged and found guilty of manslaughter.

The family of Cyane, also a French national, is among those who have vehemently denied the Morettis’ claims, and they are supported by witnesses who survived the blaze.

They say it was Mrs Moretti, the manager on the night, who sent Cyane out with the bottles and encouraged her to perform the stunt using a helmet provided by Dom Perignon, the champagne house.

But witnesses have cast doubt on their claims, with one saying Cyane was made to wear a promotional crash helmet that prevented her from seeing sparklers.

Sophie Haenni, lawyer for Cyane’s bereaved family, also claimed that ‘Cyane wasn’t supposed to be serving at the tables’.

Ms Haenni said: ‘Jessica Moretti asked her to go down to the basement to help her colleagues, given the large number of champagne bottles ordered.

‘Cyane simply followed the instructions given, did her job, and did so in front of the manager. She was never informed of the ceiling’s danger and received no safety training.’ 

The bar owners have also faced backlash after claiming Cyane was like a ‘step-daughter’ and ‘sister’ to them.

But Ms Haenni said this was false, and Cyane had in fact contacted ‘the workers’ protection service’ over her employment conditions with the Morettis.

She was entitled to all of these documents under Swiss law, but the Morettis appeared reluctant to give her basic documents, including an employment contract, or to pay her a decent wage.

Cyane and the Morettis ‘addressed each other formally in messages,’ while Cyane complained of ‘orders’ given to her by Jessica Moretti.

Ms Haenni said: ‘In 2025, Cyane confided in her family about the significant difficulties she was experiencing with her employers.

‘She indicated that she had to work tirelessly. She was working endless days. Shortly before her death, Cyane told her family about her physical and emotional exhaustion.

‘She expressed her incomprehension at her employers’ lack of empathy and understanding.’

Ms Moretti, who was one of the first to escape the club, has admitted she knew the champagne sparkler stunt was being performed regularly, despite the huge danger.

She also offered a reserved apology for what happened on New Year’s Day, without admitting any criminal or civil liability.

Those killed were mostly teenagers, while most of the injured remain in various hospitals across Switzerland and Europe.

Most of those caught up in the inferno were Swiss, but a total of 19 nationalities were among those killed and wounded, including nine French and six Italian nationals.

Video cameras are said to have caught Ms Moretti getting away from the scene of the fire as quickly as possible, in her car, after quickly escaping with the till containing the night’s cash takings under her arm, while hundreds of young customers were trapped inside.

Leila Micheloud, the mother of two daughters injured in the fire, attended Wednesday’s hearing.

‘It’s a path to healing. We’re waiting for answers, the truth, for them to tell the truth; we’re not asking for anything more,’ she told journalists.

‘We’re in a battle. I have to be here.

‘When you have two of your children who almost died, you’re not afraid of anything,’ she added.

The Morettis’ lawyer, Yael Hayat, said the hearings would be the first time the couple would be able to speak directly to the lawyers representing the victims and families.

‘They are empathetic, but at the same time, they are isolated. It is also very difficult for them not to be able to express themselves directly, since the legal proceedings require that there be no contact,’ she said.

The Wallis public prosecutor’s office said Monday that around 50 orders and warrants had been issued in the case, and more than a dozen hearings conducted so far.

The case file ‘comprises nearly 2,000 pages and includes more than 8,500 physical documents; 263 civil parties have been identified and are represented by 74 lawyers,’ it said.