Exemplary sentences. After two weeks of trial behind closed doors and more than nine hours of deliberation, the Irishman Denis Coulson and the Frenchman Loïck Jammes were sentenced to 14 years in prison, and the New Zealander Rory Grice to 12 years.
Three rugby players, a Frenchman, a New Zealander and an Irishman, were sentenced Friday to sentences of 12 to 14 years of criminal imprisonment for raping a young woman in 2017 in the southwest of France, after an evening very alcoholic which followed a Top 14 match.
These convictions are in accordance with the requisitions. Acts of “gang rape” are punishable by 20 years in prison.
The rest after this ad
The lawyers of the three men, who played at the time of the events with the Grenoble club, in the French Alps (east), announced their desire to appeal and file a request for release as quickly as possible.
The rest after this ad
Corinne Dreyfus-Schmidt, lawyer for the 30-year-old Irishman, now converted to construction, said she was “extremely shocked” by the verdict.
“The court did not take into account the fact that the facts date back seven years, that my client was 22 years old at the time and that he did not serve any days of detention. What is the benefit for society of sentencing him to 14 years? None, except to destroy a life,” she said.
The rest after this ad
The rest after this ad
One of Loïck Jammes’ lawyers, Me Jean-Félix Luciani, also denounced “unjust sentences”.
A used crutch
“This evening, we sent a message, we told a victim that we believe her […] We told these boys that they had no right to do what they did to the victim,” reacted Me Grégoire Mouly, the victim’s lawyer.
“It sends a very strong signal to the men of this country, to the world of rugby, and to women too. Ladies, you can dress as you want, drink as much as you want, this freedom is priceless, even if we wanted to call it into question,” declared another lawyer for the victim, Me Gaessy Gros. .
Unlike Mr. Coulson, MM. Jammes, 30, and Grice, 34, still play rugby in France.
The Bordeaux Assize Court also sentenced the Irishman Chris Farrell to four years in prison, two of which were suspended, and the New Zealander Dylan Hayes to two years suspended, for having witnessed all or part of the events without intervening. .
On the morning of March 12, 2017, the victim, then aged 20, left a hotel in Mérignac, near Bordeaux, in tears, where the Grenoble team had stayed after its defeat against Union Bordeaux Bègles.
The student had filed a complaint, stating that she had met players in a bar and followed them to a nightclub during a very alcoholic evening, without remembering what happened next. She added that she woke up the next day, naked on a bed with a crutch in her vagina, surrounded by two naked men and others dressed.
Between 2.2 and 3 grams of alcohol per liter of blood
Coulson, Jammes and Grice admitted to having had sexual relations with the young woman but assured from the start that she was consenting, even taking initiatives, a version maintained at the trial.
Based in particular on a video filmed by Coulson, the prosecution mentioned several fellatios and the introduction of a banana, a bottle and crutches into the victim's vagina.
According to a toxicological expert, she had between 2.2 and 3 grams of alcohol per liter of blood. According to video surveillance images, she could barely stand when she arrived at the hotel, to the point of being “constantly held down” by one of the accused.
For the defense, the attitude of the complainant, described as “automatic pilot” by an expert psychiatrist, created “no ambiguity” for their clients, she herself having confided to the police her “fear” of having been “consenting” .
An “infamous” position in the eyes of the civil party, for whom the accused should have “protected” the victim instead of “taking advantage” of his state of intoxication.
This verdict comes three days after the dismissal pronounced by the Argentine courts in the proceedings for aggravated rape which targeted two French internationals, Oscar Jegou and Hugo Auradou.
She considered that their relationship with the complainant, met in a nightclub on the evening of their first selection in Argentina, had been consensual. The latter's lawyer will appeal.
