the essential
In a long interview with Parisien-Aujourd’hui in France, the father of the third line who died at the end of December 2018, three days after being the victim of a double tackle of rare violence, protests against the dismissal of the case. .
The fight continues for the Chauvin family. More than six years after the death at the age of 17 of Nicolas, former third row of the Stade Français Espoirs during a championship match in Bordeaux, the anger is still present. Amplified even after the judge’s decision to dismiss the case for the two players at the origin of the tackle to the head which led to his death three days later.
“We are very, very disappointed, my wife and I,” explains Philippe Chauvin in an interview with Le Parisien. Regretting the length of the procedure to “bring together partial, one-sided documents, some of which had to be redone”, he formally contests the judge’s conclusions.
“Dying is not a sufficient danger to be referred to a court because the players responsible for the tackle would not have done anything prejudicial in criminal terms even though they committed two sporting offenses with tackles to the head…”, he thunders.
Also read:
Death of Nicolas Chauvin after a tackle: dismissal of the case for the two rugby players at the origin of the tragic death of the young Espoir
Regretting that “the FFR never let a referee lend his expertise, despite repeated requests from the judge and myself”, he also protests against the late hearings of the two tacklers and the way in which they took place, under the status of assisted witness.
“We have not brought them back to their responsibility because, you understand, they are traumatized, they are suffering, they are not sleeping, they are taking medication”
“These players have always claimed to have tackled below the line of the pectorals, even at the level of the hips or the navel,” he says. During their hearings, the two players did not want to see the video. I wonder why the judge didn’t force them to do so by saying: it’s still your stupidity, it’s up to you to take responsibility. No, we didn’t show it to them, we didn’t make them take responsibility because, do you understand, they are traumatized, they suffer, do not sleep, take medication But that does not stop them from playing rugby and having a professional career for one of them.
And to announce that “we can only appeal this decision which does not respect the life and safety of a majority of players who behave well” with the desire “to obtain a change of scenery” of the affair elsewhere only in Bordeaux for the sake of objectivity.
Belgium
