French rugby players accused of rape likely to be cleared by courts
The prosecution may close the investigation as early as Friday, according to court sources.
The investigation on the alleged rape of a woman in Argentina by two French rugby players in nearly over, said court sources on Wednesday, while a psychological expert examination of the complainant seemed to further undermine her version.
After validating a medical, psychiatric and psychological evaluation of the plaintiff. the prosecution may declare the investigation closed on Friday and set a date to examine the motion for dismissal -that is, the case being closed before going to trial-, according to sources in Mendoza.
“The court will order a dismissal hearing for the next five to 10 days,” where “each of the parties will have the right to defend their positions,” Rafael Cúneo Libarona, one of the rugby players’ lawyers, told AFP.
After that hearing, the court will take a few more days to finally solve the case, he continued.
The expert report on the plaintiff, conducted by experts appointed by the prosecution which was accessed by AFP, points out that “contradictions are noted in different parts of the account, which were not solved convincingly by the plaintiff."
The two professionals who signed the expert report state that, in the 39-year-old woman’s account, “the common thread is lax and scattered, and tends to provide positive aspects about herself or details outside the scope of the investigation."
"Contradictory and inconsistent contents are also found when it comes to explaining situations she is confronted with,” the text points out.
Frenchmen Hugo Auradou and Oscar Jegou, both aged 21, were accused of aggravated rape perpetrated by two or more people due to the alleged events in the early hours of July 7 in the hotel room where they were staying in Mendoza after playing a friendly match against the Argentine Pumas.
The woman claimed she was brutally raped and beaten by both of them while they never denied the sexual intercourse yet denied any kind of violence.
They were held for little over a month, first in Buenos Aires and then in Mendoza. The prosecution released them in mid-August and allowed them to return to France after finding that the complainant’s initial accusation had lost its strength. They travelled back on September 4, though the case had not ended.
“The account is not free or spontaneous (...) and it is tinged with evident external influences, fundamentally her friend D.,”the psychological expert report points out.
According to the experts, the plaintiff acknowledged that she would not have filed the report had her friend not convinced her that she had been a victim of sexual assault. Her mother might have also contributed to persuading her.
The plaintiff’s lawyer did not respond to enquiries by AFP on this occasion.
– TIMES/AFP