Five former FC Grenoble rugby players tried in Gironde in a rape case

Le Figaro Bordeaux

Five former FC Grenoble players must face the Gironde Assize Court from Monday June 17 to Friday June 28. Rory G., Loïck J. and Denis C. are indicted for “gang rape” of a young woman. Chris F. and Dylan H. are accused of “failure to assist a person in danger”, according to the Bordeaux public prosecutor’s office. Aged 20 at the time, the victim became a civil party on April 12, 2017 in this long trial which could take place behind closed doors, if it is not postponed. Indeed, one of the main accused, Denis C., could be unable to attend the proceedings, due to a recent road accident, indicated Friday evening The Team. Contacted by Le Figarothe Bordeaux public prosecutor’s office, however, refused to comment on this information and maintained the opening of the trial, this Monday, at 2:30 p.m.

The facts with which the accused are accused took place on the night of March 11 to 12, 2017 in the hotel room of one of them. That evening, after their defeat against Union Bordeaux Bègles (UBB), the players went to a bar where they met the victim, surrounded by two friends. The group then decides to continue the evening at a discotheque. When she filed a complaint on the morning of March 12, the young woman declared “not having any memory between the moment when she drank vodka and danced in the disco and the moment when she regained consciousness, lying naked in a bed, surrounded by several men and having the impression of being penetrated by a metal object”, relates the public prosecutor. According to her, she would not have had the impression of being “drunk” during the evening.

Denials

Placed in police custody twice, on March 22 and then on April 11, 2017, the players concerned were interviewed by the family protection brigade. The three accused of rape do not deny having had sexual relations with this young woman; on the other hand, they assure that she was “conscious”, “enterprising” and she doesn’t have “underwent no constraint”. Comments illustrated by a video made by one of the players and shown to investigators to prove “that the complainant consented”. SAccording to the elements of the investigation and a DNA expertise, fruits and objects – including the crutches of one of the injured players – were used for sexual purposes that night. One of the athletes who will have to answer for the charge of failure to assist a person in danger assured during his hearings that the victim then issued “sexual noises demonstrating consent”. His teammate accused of the same charge explained to him that he was “confused” and that he did not understand that the “victim was in distress” for lack of “obvious signs” indicating lack of consent.

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Arguments which did not convince the investigating magistrate, who considers in his order that all the testimonies and analyzes of the hotel videos highlight sexual acts carried out “under duress or by surprise” because of “extremely advanced state of intoxication” of the victim at the time of the incident. Neither the players nor the civil party changed their versions of the facts, which nevertheless conflict, during the investigation of this case.