The Irishman Denis Coulson, the Frenchman Loïck Jammes and the New Zealander Rory Grice are accused of having raped a student, in 2017, during a party after a match against UBB, in Bordeaux, on the night of 11 as of March 12, 2017. The two other players prosecuted in this case are the New Zealander Dylan Hayes and the Irishman Chris Farrell: they must answer of the offense of “failure to prevent the crime of rape”. All contest the facts with which they are accused and benefit from the presumption of innocence. If the first three admitted during the investigation to having had sexual relations with the young woman, they always affirmed that these relations had been consensual.
All the protagonists presented themselves at the opening of the trial, at 2 p.m. Absent last June, after being the victim of a car accident which led to the postponement of the trial, the Irishman Denis Coulson arrived with his lawyer, Me Dreyfus-Schmidt, using crutches to walk.
Two weeks of trial
From the opening of the debates, Me Anne Cadiot-Feidt, one of the civil party's lawyers, a young woman now aged 27, requested the closed session. “I wonder about the coherence of this request, given the media coverage that has been given to this affair,” reacted Me Denis Dreyfus, lawyer for Loïck Jammes. Since closed session is the right in rape cases, when requested by the civil party, it has been ordered by the court.
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