Two French skilled rugby gamers accused of raping a girl could have an opportunity at worldwide choice for the 2025 Guinness Six Nations after their alleged rape case in Argentina was dismissed on Tuesday.
A choose in Mendoza, about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) west of the capital Buenos Aires, dismissed the case in opposition to 21-year-old athletes Hugo Auradou and Óscar Jagou, citing inadequate proof. (Oscar Jegou) lawsuit.
The court docket mentioned: “After investigation, it didn’t represent a criminal offense.”
The case started in July, when a 39-year-old Argentine lady reported to police that she was overwhelmed, choked and repeatedly raped by rugby gamers in a Mendoza resort room.
The rugby participant admitted having intercourse with the accuser – whom he met throughout a boozy membership evening after a win over Argentina’s Pumas on July 7 – however insisted the contact was consensual. They have been taken into preventive detention after which positioned beneath home arrest for a month.
The protection mentioned the dismissal strengthened their religion within the justice system.
“I feel this can be a turning level,” German Hnatow, a lawyer representing one of many two gamers, advised Miter Mendoza, a neighborhood radio station. “There are quite a lot of false accusations round sexual crimes, gender-based violence which are inflicting hurt.”
The plaintiff can enchantment the choice. She didn’t say whether or not she deliberate to take action, and her lawyer didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Over the previous few months, the case has slowly unraveled because the protection poked holes within the lady’s model of occasions.
Prosecutors accredited the athlete’s return to France in September beneath sure situations, citing questionable proof introduced in court docket, together with WhatsApp voice messages the complainant despatched to associates joking and bragging about tough intercourse she had had with them.
The plaintiff’s lawyer defined that any inconsistencies in her account have been on account of her “shock and excessive stress.”
As a part of the investigation, she underwent a medical examination and was discovered to have acute bleeding ulcers and different accidents, which she claimed have been associated to her assault.
The French Rugby Federation expressed “aid and satisfaction” on the choose’s determination. Athletes suspended as a result of seriousness of the costs can be eligible to return to the nationwide crew “if their sporting efficiency permits,” the assertion mentioned.
