the main accused “asks for forgiveness” from the victim

Irishman Denis Coulson, one of the former Grenoble rugby players tried for ten days behind closed doors in Bordeaux for a gang rape in March 2017, apologized to the victim on Wednesday, according to his lawyer. “He asked her for forgiveness (…) and he asked his teammates for forgiveness because he feels a responsibility to the extent that it was he who led this young girl into the room”declared Me Corinne Dreyfus-Schmidt.

“At the same time, Mr. Coulson doesn’t really question himself”replied Me Anne Cadiot-Feidt, lawyer for the victim, for whom he apologizes “in relation to him”, “a little bit like for children”. The former pillar, 30 years old today, is being prosecuted for gang rape with New Zealander Rory Grice, 34, and Frenchman Loïck Jammes, 30.

“A kind of sexual euphoria”

They all plead for the consent of the victim with whom they had spent a Top 14 post-match in a bar then in a nightclub, alcohol flowing freely, before ending the night in a hotel near Bordeaux. The young woman came to her senses there the next day, naked on a bed with a crutch in her vagina, surrounded by two naked men and others dressed. “It is extremely difficult to reconstruct the facts more than seven years later,” continued Mr. Dreyfus-Schmidt after questioning his client. There are only testimonies that overlap and we try to hold on to the few material elements that we have”.

“He was 21 at the time of the events, he was drunk, there was a kind of sexual euphoria in that room and at that moment, he sincerely thought, as she was capable of action, that she was All right”added the lawyer. The hearing continued on Wednesday with the questioning of Loïck Jammes.

His defense requested, in vain, a new medico-legal expertise after a forensic pathologist mandated to replace the doctor who carried out the original analyzes, unavailable for health reasons, had “invalid” the work of his colleague at the helm, according to Me Denis Dreyfus. “On a medico-legal level, we cannot prove anything. It is likely, in a file which is strewn with multiple question marks, to bring an additional one”Jammes’ lawyer told the press. The Irishman Chris Farrell (31 years old) and the New Zealander Dylan Hayes (40 years old) appear on trial for having witnessed all or part of the alleged rape without intervening.