Two French players formally charged with aggravated rape
NEWS: The two Test players were formally charged on Friday with the aggravated rape of an Argentine woman – following a night out after a match, according to a prosecution statement.
The two accused parties – Hugo Auradou and Oscar Jegou, chose “not to testify” at a hearing in Mendoza, where the alleged rape took place after a game between Argentina and France last Saturday.
The prosecutor’s office “proceeded to formally charge the two French citizens for the crime of sexual assault with penetration aggravated by the participation of two people,” the statement claimed using the Argentine legal definition of rape.
The duo will remain in custody with further investigations being carried out.
A request by the defence for them to be placed under house arrest “will be resolved in due course,” according to the statement.
The two men were arrested on Monday in Buenos Aires after being accused by a 39-year-old woman that the duo had raped her multiple times and assaulted her in a Mendoza hotel room after the match whilst the French team was on a tour of South America.
The two players involved deny the accusations, claiming they had consensual sexual relations with the woman.
They were transferred on Thursday by car from Interpol’s Buenos Aires headquarters to Mendoza – approximately 1000 kilometres west.
The lawyer of the 39-year-old woman, Natacha Romano said her client was hospitalized on Thursday after feeling ill emotionally and physically “because of everything that happened.”
Psychologist Nicolas Yungman – who didn’t treat the woman told local media that her symptoms, as described, could be indicative of post-traumatic stress disorder.
The woman will receive treatment at a health facility for anything between 24 and 48 hours, Romano said.
The consequences
The French duo could face up to 20 years in prison, should they be found guilty.
Romano told AFP on Wednesday that her client had suffered “fierce” violence at the hands of the two players in a hotel room – with injuries to her face, back, breasts, legs and ribs as well as various bite and scratch marks.
The woman claims to have been raped “at least six times” by one of the men and once by the other while allegedly trying to escape several times.
The attack allegedly occurred on Saturday night at the Diplomatic Hotel in Mendoza, where France’s players and staff were staying after their win over Argentina.
Romano told AFP the woman had left with one of the men from a nightclub to a hotel room – where she alleges being held against her will and abused for several hours.
“The violence was fierce,” said Romano. “There is more than one crime to investigate.”
The French players’ lawyer Rafael Cuneo Libarona – arrived in Mendoza on Wednesday and said “sexual relations” had been “consensual”.
“There are witnesses who saw her leave [the hotel]. There are cameras that saw her leave. Apparently no injuries are seen in the footage,” Libarona – who is the brother of Justice Minister Mariano Cuneo Libarona, told journalists.
Romano told AFP “the overwhelming proof that there was no consent is the victim’s body” and the wounds she bears.
French Rugby Federation president Florian Grill, who is in Argentina told AFP that the accused players have “a quite different version” of events to that of the woman, with “a lot of inconsistencies”
