Palmost two years to the day after the tackle which left him quadriplegic on December 14, 2022 in Tarbes, Mathias Dantin was able to hear the arguments of the rugby player who changed his life. His opponent, a young man aged 18 at the time of the events, was prosecuted this Tuesday, December 17 before the criminal court for “intentional violence resulting in permanent disability”. Four and a half hours of a vast and intense trial during which the two young men, the defendant and the victim, discussed at length the facts, but also their lives before and after December 14, 2022.
“I have the physical capacity of a 3 year old child”
That day, three teams compete in a UNSS tournament in Tarbes. In the last minute of the match between Mathias Dantin’s team and that of the accused, the latter lifted Mathias Dantin after he had dropped the ball and violently let him fall to the ground. The victim falls on the back of his neck, hears a “crack”, immediately realizes the unusual pain and his inability to move his limbs.
« Mes excuses »
Two years later, the young man can only move around in a wheelchair, and has seen his relationship with his “ex-girlfriend come to an end partly because of the accident”. He described at length his difficulties with everyday gestures, the fifteen pills per day that he must ingest, the help necessary for each action such as relieving himself, “a very intrusive gesture”. “I have the physical capacity of a 3-year-old child,” he confided in front of a very moved audience.
But if the consequences of this gesture are undeniable, the trial mainly debated the dangerousness and the intention of violence. Did the defendant intend to cause harm? He denied it throughout, even if he recognizes his “entire responsibility in this unfortunate, poorly controlled gesture, with dramatic consequences”. “I want to apologize,” he expressed during his final speech, sending his encouragement to the victim, without abandoning his position aiming to plead the accident.
Eighteen months suspended sentence required
The intentionality of the gesture had nevertheless transpired while several altercations during the match had involved the author of the final tackle. “I don’t remember it,” he explained. The images of the accident, filmed by one of the victim’s friends from the sidelines, were projected at length on screens. They testify to the violence of the tackle, but do not succeed in getting the parties to agree on intentionality. Everyone has their own interpretation against the backdrop of rugby rules.
Faced with these “extremely serious” facts and this “deliberate gesture”, the public prosecutor requested a sentence of eighteen months’ imprisonment with suspended sentence. The defense lawyer, on the contrary, requested a reclassification of the facts, regretting both that his client was being treated as “a monster” and that an unfortunate rugby gesture would lead to his being brought before the courts. The deliberation is expected on February 18.
