French court puts rugby stars on trial in gang rape case

Irishman Denis Coulson (centre) is one of three players accused of rape – Copyright AFP/File JEAN PIERRE CLATOT

Jean Decotte and Marisol Rifai

The trial of a group of rugby players accused of raping a student after a match of the French top team Grenoble in 2017 was due to begin on Monday.

But just hours before the scheduled start, two defense attorneys announced that the trial could be postponed due to the absence of one of the defendants, Irishman Denis Coulson.

French sports newspaper L’Equipe reported that Coulson was injured in a road accident last week.

A source close to the defence told AFP that Coulson’s lawyer had asked for the trial to be postponed or for his case to be heard separately at a later date.

The trial in the southwestern city of Bordeaux, the scene of the alleged rape, is expected to focus on the question of whether the young woman, now 27, was too drunk to consent to sex.

“What is consent? At what point is it limited or even completely absent?” one of her lawyers, Anne Cadiot-Feidt, told AFP.

The woman, identified only as V., has chosen to remain anonymous, her lawyers say.

Former Grenoble players Coulson (30), New Zealander Rory Grice (34) and 29-year-old Frenchman Loick Jammes are accused of raping her.

Two former teammates, 31-year-old Irishman Chris Farrell – a member of Ireland’s Grand Slam-winning team at the 2018 Six Nations – and 30-year-old New Zealander Dylan Hayes, are on trial for failing to prevent crime.

V. and two friends met the rugby players in a bar in Bordeaux after the Grenoble team played a Top 14 championship match on March 11, 2017 – a few months before the #MeToo movement broke out in the United States.

The group drank cocktails, including mojitos, vodka and Red Bull, and then moved on to a nightclub.

– 10x limit –

V. said that after leaving the nightclub, she could not remember how the evening ended.

She got into a taxi with Coulson and drove to the players’ hotel at around 4:00 a.m.

A toxicological report found that V. had between 2.2 and 3.0 grams of alcohol per litre of blood at the time – well over ten times the maximum permitted limit for drivers in France.

Surveillance footage of her arrival at the hotel shows her struggling to her feet while Coulson supports her.

He also appeared to prevent her from getting back into the taxi twice.

V. said she woke up around 7:00 a.m. naked on a bed with a crutch in her vagina, along with two naked men and others who were still clothed.

Her lawyer, Cadiot-Feidt, said arguments in the case would likely focus on “the question of the victim’s responsibility in a situation where he or she has voluntarily placed himself or herself in a state that limits or revokes his or her consent.”

“We often ask questions about the victim’s consent and not at all about how attackers assess their consent,” she added.

– “High degree of tolerance” –

Statements from the defendants and witnesses, as well as a video filmed by Coulson during a sexual act, suggested that V. had oral sex and that the defendants had penetrated her with objects such as a bottle and crutches.

Coulson, Jammes and Grice have all admitted to having sex with V., but insist it was consensual.

Jammes’ lawyer Denis Dreyfus said he also expected the hearings to focus on how difficult it is to obtain the consent of those involved when “all parties are drunk.”

“What is certain is that it is a tragedy for both sides,” he added.

“This is not a trial of rugby players who were rapists, it is a trial of alcohol,” said Corinne Dreyfus-Schmidt, who is representing Coulson.

The “climate” surrounding the #MeToo movement is “not conducive to understanding” in such cases, she added.

“The real problem in this case is all these young people who are drinking to excess,” said Dreyfus-Schmidt.

The woman’s lawyer, Cadiot-Feidt, criticized some French rugby clubs and fans for having a “high tolerance” for alcohol-related incidents.

“A lot of people still think the woman just shouldn’t have gone out, shouldn’t have had a drink, shouldn’t have put herself in that situation,” she said.

She expressed the hope that the case would help to better prevent sexual violence within certain sports cultures.

“Sports clubs have their statutes, which are clear,” she said. “But in practice there is still a lot to be done.”

A similar case in Northern Ireland sparked protests after a court in 2018 acquitted two Irish rugby players accused of raping a woman in Belfast two years earlier.