Five players found guilty, sentenced up to 14 years in prison

Three former Grenoble rugby players were sentenced on Friday to 12 to 14 years in prison for raping a young woman in 2017 in Bordeaux after a very drunken evening following a Top 14 match.

After two weeks of closed-door trial and more than nine hours of deliberation, Irishman Denis Coulson and Frenchman Loick Jammes were sentenced to 14 years in prison, and New Zealander Rory Grice to 12 years.

These convictions were in accordance with the attorney general's requisitions. The charge of ‘gang rape’ they were accused was punishable by 20 years of imprisonment.

Lawyers for the three men have announced their intention to appeal and to file a request for release as soon as possible.

Corinne Dreyfus-Schmidt, lawyer for the 30-year-old Irishman who now works in construction, said she was "extremely shocked" by the verdict.

"The court did not take into account the fact that the events took place seven years ago, that my client was 22 at the time and that he had not served a single day in prison. What is the interest for society in sentencing him to 14 years? None, except to ruin a life," she said.

One of Jammes' lawyers, Jean-Felix Luciani, also denounced "unjust sentences of a severity that is certainly evident, but which remain sentences of first instance".

"This evening, we sent a message, we told a victim that we believe her... We told these boys that they did not have the right to do what they did to the victim," reacted Gregoire Mouly, the victim's lawyer.

"This sends a very strong signal to the men of this country, to the world of rugby, and to women too. Ladies, you can dress as you want, drink as much as you want, this freedom is priceless, even if we wanted to call it into question," declared another lawyer for the victim, Gaessy Gros.

Unlike Coulson, Jammes (30) and Grice (34) still play rugby, the first at Aix-en-Provence and the second at Oyonnax, two Pro D2 clubs.

The Gironde court also sentenced Irishman Chris Farrell (31), who also plays for Oyonnax, to four years in prison, two of which were suspended, and New Zealander Dylan Hayes (30), now unemployed, to two years suspended, for having witnessed all or part of the events without intervening.

On the morning of March 12, 2017, the victim, then aged 20, left in tears a hotel in Merignac, on the outskirts of Bordeaux where the Grenoble team had stayed after its defeat against Union Bordeaux-Begles.

The student had filed a complaint, stating that she had met players in a bar and followed them to a nightclub during a very alcoholic evening, without remembering what happened next. She added that she had woken up the next day, naked on a bed surrounded by two naked men and others who were dressed.

Coulson, Jammes and Grice admitted to having had sexual relations with the young woman but maintained from the beginning that she consented, even taking the initiative, a version maintained at the trial.

This verdict comes three days after a court in Argentina dismissed the case for aggravated rape involving two French internationals, Oscar Jegou and Hugo Auradou.