This Wednesday, November 13, Taleta Tupuola, ASBH rugby player, was sentenced by the Béziers court to 14 months of suspended imprisonment. After returning from an evening, where he had drunk a lot of alcohol, he violently hit his wife.
Accompanied by a translator, head bowed, dressed in jeans and a white shirt, visibly very dejected, Taleta Tupuola stepped to the stand. This Wednesday, November 13, at the Béziers court, the ASBH rugby player, 35, was tried for acts of domestic violence. On October 5 in the early morning, completely drunk, returning from a drunken evening with rugby friends, he argued with his wife and violently hit her. He received a 14-month suspended prison sentence. The public prosecutor had requested 18.
A violent scene in front of the couple's son
“I recognize the facts” immediately conceded the colossus to the president of the court. He added “drinking a lot and not remembering everything.” His wife, who filed a complaint four days after the incident, said in her statement that he grabbed her by the neck, that she found herself on the ground and tumbled down the stairs of their home. Taleta Tupuola then kicked him twice in the face. The scene took place in front of their 3-year-old little boy… His partner was taken to hospital, where, among other things, 16 stitches were placed on her scalp. He was notified of total incapacity for work (ITT) for six days.
A problem with alcohol
The rugby player said he understood his wife. She has just returned to New Zealand with their son, the country where the couple is from. The ASBH player also recognized that“as a child, family violence was my daily life”. Admitting a problem with alcohol, he admitted to consuming it after matches and sometimes on weekends, “without being able to stop” when it starts. He also asked the court for help to fight his addiction: “My family is everything to me, a regretté Taleta Tupoola. I didn't know that my son was watching the scene. My heart broke when I knew he saw everything. I know he's affected, that he's not like he used to be.”
Jean-Baptiste Mousset, the rugby player's lawyer, recalled that his client “has always been upright. He is a good guy and his family is everything to him. There has never been a question of minimizing or trivializing his actions. He is aware of the evil that is gnawing at him.”
Addressing the president of the court, Taleta Tupuola said “Apologies for being there. I am deeply sorry for the mess and disaster for my family. I hope someone will help me so this doesn't happen again.”
Duty of care
The court therefore sentenced him to 14 months in prison, suspended for two years, for an obligation of care in relation to his addiction to alcohol. He will have to compensate the victims and will have to pay €500 in damages to the France Victims 34 association which filed a civil suit on behalf of the rugby player's son. Taleta Tupuola will not appeal his conviction.
Still under a protective layoff from his club, he should know, in the coming days, if he will be able to play again with ASBH.
France
