The two French internationals from the French rugby team, Hugo Auradou and Oscar Jégou, are still in detention in Argentina and risk a very heavy sentence.
The time for defense has come and it will not be easy. Accused of sexual assault on a woman on the night of Saturday, July 6, 2024, in Mendoza, on the sidelines of the South American tour of the French XV and after a large victory against Argentina, Hugo Auradou and Oscar Jégou are in turmoil. Arrested in Buenos Aires at the beginning of the week, from where the team was to fly to Uruguay for a new confrontation, the two young players (20 years old and 21 years old) were placed in custody and then brought back, on July 10, to Mendoza, more than 1000 kilometers away, during a long ten-hour drive.
Above all, Hugo Auradou and Oscar Jégou must now face the public story of the plaintiff’s lawyer, which was revealed in the press. And the latter is particularly damning. The victim allegedly suffered a “terrible violence”, according to Natacha Romano, who spoke to AFP on Wednesday July 10. “Gender-based violence is extremely serious, the degradation is extreme (…). The violence here has been terrible”she says.
The story
“This would be a seriously atrocious sexual abuse, with sexual intercourse, with the participation of two people, with violence, for both”the lawyer continues. She details the sequence of events, indicating that her client returned to the hotel with one of the players, “identified as Hugo”. “He immediately grabs her, throws her on the bed, begins to undress her and starts to hit her savagely with one punch, the bruising of which is visible on the victim’s face. He suffocates her, to the point that she feels like she is going away.”she continues.
The lawyer claims that Oscar Jegou, who arrived in the room an hour later, committed “the same acts of violence and sexual abuse”. “Then this individual goes to take a bath, and Hugo continues to use her, giving her different blows. That is to say, she [a des traces] bites, scratches, blows to the breasts, legs and ribs marked in the back”, details the lawyer, who also claims that the victim tried to escape “at least five times”, in vain.
A contested version
“Witnesses saw her go out [de l’hôtel]the cameras saw her come out, there are no signs of beatings, apparently, according to the recordings. She claims to have been beaten, the cameras say she was not”explains the players’ lawyer. Hugo Auradou and Oscar Jégou claim that the relationship was consensual according to the latter.
According to Mendoza’s attorney general, Daniela Chaler, “the deposition [de la plaignante] was quite long, complete, detailed and corresponded, for the time being, to the forensic conclusions”. “The injuries are consistent with the victim’s account, but not necessarily exclusively the result of sexual assault,” she added.
From several months to several years in prison?
If the assault is confirmed, the sentence for Oscar Jegou and Hugo Auradou could vary depending on the severity of the acts and whether or not violence was used. The prosecutor stressed the seriousness of the charges, noting that aggravated sexual abuse is a crime punishable by severe penalties in Argentina. According to Article 119 of the Argentine Penal Code: “Anyone who sexually abuses a person shall be punished by imprisonment or imprisonment of 6 months to 4 years.” […] when there is violence.” A sentence that could apply to both players, given the violent facts described by the complainant.
If the case is more serious, the sentence could be 4 to 10 years of imprisonment or reclusion “when the abuse, due to its duration or the circumstances of its realization, would have constituted a sexual submission seriously undignified for the victim”, such as if the acts were carried out “by two or more people”. An even heavier sentence of 6 to 15 years of reclusion could apply if “there was carnal access by anal, vaginal or oral route or if other similar acts were carried out through the introduction of objects or parts of the body”. Other aggravating circumstances could also extend the sentence to 20 years of imprisonment as indicated by La Dépêche.