Accused of rape, Oscar Jegou and Hugo Auradou hope that the Argentine justice system will dismiss the case.
In the case involving the two players of the French rugby team Hugo Auradou and Oscar Jegou, the request for dismissal by the two accused is postponed. Indeed, the complainant who filed a complaint for gang rape “did not show up” for the psychological assessment examinations.
Indicted by the public prosecutor of Mendoza (Argentina) for “gang rape”, the two French rugby players Oscar Jegou and Hugo Auradou intended to file a request for dismissal on Friday, August 23. After being placed in pretrial detention during their arrest on July 8, then under house arrest, Oscar Jegou and Hugo Auradou were released on bail on August 12 by the prosecutor in charge of the investigation, but are required to remain on Argentinian territory. While the two men have admitted to a relationship with the complainant, they deny any accusations of rape and violence.
According to the plaintiff’s lawyer, her client “did not feel in a position” to undergo these tests, which are essential for the investigation to be closed by the Mendoza public prosecutor’s office. The lawyers for the two rugby players intended to file a request for dismissal of the case after the tests. Indeed, the elements revealed in the Argentinian press in recent weeks have seemed to call into question the plaintiff’s version. The latest, the testimony of the woman who shared a taxi with the plaintiff and Hugo Auradou. One of the defendant’s lawyers stated that the witness had seen the victim and the rugby player “kissing during the entire journey, laughing and smiling, like a normal couple. According to her, the intention of the two was clear: to have sex once they arrived at the hotel.”
This favorable testimony from Hugo Auradou supports the request for dismissal which should be filed on Tuesday, August 27, following the psychological tests that the complainant still has to undergo. According to their lawyer, the hearing should be scheduled quickly and the latter hopes that his clients will be released at the end of August or the beginning of September.
Audio messages that challenge the victim’s version?
An investigation therefore conducted in a tense climate. Crucial pieces brought to the case were leaked to the press. These are audio messages from the complainant to a friend in the hours following the alleged rape. The Argentinian newspaper The Nation revealed the content of one of these messages: “You don’t know how cute this Frenchman was, the biggest, the kid was terrible.” The Argentinian site Clarin even reveals much more explicit messages from the complainant: “I met a French rugby player. The guy is really tall. So handsome, so handsome. I came home at 9 o’clock in the morning. At 9 o’clock! I owe you everything, you encouraged me not to stay here at home, always the same story. When I go out, I take advantage of it. He broke me, he broke me. He broke me, the guy. I have marks on my back, my jaw.”
Rafael Cuneo Libarona, the lawyer for the two players, said on August 6 that “the innocence of the two players has been proven.” He has requested their release and is confident that they will return to France quickly. He believes that there are “notorious contradictions” in the testimony of the 39-year-old woman.
For her part, Natacha Romano, the plaintiff’s lawyer, denounced “manipulation” and a “premeditated act” after the voice messages were released to the Argentine press. “There are 23 voice messages in total and only four or five have been released, in disorder and completely taken out of context,” she said in an interview with ParisianShe also said that the players were “never able to answer whether they had asked the victim whether she agreed or not.”
“Clear evidence” of rape for victim’s family
At the same time, the complainant sticks to her guns. “When you analyze all this in detail, the only strategy of the defendants’ lawyers is to lie and sow doubts,” her brother said, when questioned by The Parisian. According to him, “there is evidence that there was a non-consensual act, a rape, starting with the number of injuries (fifteen) noted by the medical examiner on the day the complaint was filed. She said no. The evidence is clear. We are afraid that justice will not be served, that political pressure will influence the prosecutor in charge of the case (Darío Nora), who has a reputation for being tough,” he said.
Under Argentine law, sexual violence can include acts ranging from sexual assault to aggravated rape, which could be punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
Facts which allegedly took place after a France XV match
Accused of sexually assaulting 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 were arrested in Buenos Aires on July 8, from where the team was due to fly to Uruguay for a new confrontation.
“He grabs her, throws her, starts undressing her and starts hitting her.”
The plaintiff’s lawyer revealed her client’s story to the press. And it is particularly damning. The victim allegedly suffered “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 was terrible,” she said.
“It would be a seriously atrocious sexual abuse, with sexual intercourse, with the participation of two people, with violence, for both of them,” the lawyer continues. She specifies the sequence of the alleged 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 begins to savagely hit her with a punch, the bruise of which is visible on the victim’s face. He suffocates her, to the point that she feels like she is leaving,” she continues.
The lawyer claims that Oscar Jegou, who arrived an hour later in the room, 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 traces of blows, apparently, according to the recordings. She claims to have been beaten, the cameras say that she was not,” explains the players’ lawyer. Hugo Auradou and Oscar Jégou affirm that the relationship was consensual according to the latter.
According to Mendoza 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 compatible with the victim’s story, but not necessarily exclusively from a sexual assault,” she added.