French rape trial of Denis Coulson adjourned after former rugby player sustains injuries in car crash

The rape trial of former rugby player Denis Coulson has been adjourned because the 30-year-old has been unable to travel to Bordeaux due to injuries sustained in a car crash in Dublin last week.

The former Ireland under 20 international is accused, along with two co-defendants, French man Loïck Jammes and New Zealander Rory Grice, of the gang rape of a young woman in the French city in March 2017.

Two other players, Fermanagh-born Chris Farrell, who was a member of Ireland’s 2018 Grand-Slam winning squad, and 30-year-old New Zealander, Dylan Hayes, are also accused of failing to prevent a crime.

Four of the men appeared before the Cour d’assises of the Gironde region this afternoon.

As proceedings began, the court was told that Mr Coulson, who now works as a manager on a construction site in Dublin, had been involved in a serious car crash in the Port Tunnel in the early hours of last Wednesday morning. After undergoing surgery, he was signed off work for six weeks and remains in hospital.

Photos of the crash were shown to the court before legal argument took place in the absence of the media. The president of the Cour d’assises, Marie-Noëlle Billaud, then agreed that proceedings should be postponed until December.

Mr Coulson’s legal team later told reporters that he had been on his way to the airport to catch an early morning flight to Paris, where he was planning to prepare his defence in advance of the trial in Bordeaux, at the time of the crash. They said that he was “determined” to travel to France to “clear his name”.

Coulson, Jammes and Grice, who played rugby with Grenoble at the time of the incident, are accused of raping a then 20-year-old woman in a hotel room in Mérignac, a suburb of Bordeaux, after their team lost a Top 14 championship match there on March 11th, 2017. If convicted, they face a prison sentence of up to 20 years. The players on trial for failing to prevent a crime face a potential sentence of five years.

Prosecutors say the players met the alleged victim in a pub in Bordeaux, while they were out socialising following their match. The woman, who was at the bar with two friends, went on to a nightclub with the players. She later told police that she couldn’t remember anything about the night after drinking vodka and dancing at the club. She said she remembered regaining consciousness in a hotel room. She was lying naked on a bed, surrounded by several men, and had the impression that she had been “penetrated by a metal object”.

Police in Bordeaux say they were contacted by the woman’s mother at 8:45am on the morning after the alleged rape.

Ten days later, the accused were first questioned by police. Further interviews took place on April 11th.

Prosecutors say three of the players told police that sexual activity had taken place on the night in question but they insisted that it had been consensual.

The alleged rape took place in a hotel room that was being shared by two of the players, one of whom had been injured during the match they’d played that evening. Police say this man, who was on crutches at the time, watched the woman being raped and failed to intervene. They say a second player was also present in the room during the rape for a certain period of time.

Prosecutors say a video that was filmed by one of the players accused of rape will be shown to the court during the trial. Defence lawyers will argue that it proves that the woman had been a willing participant, and had consented to sex. In the footage, the alleged victim is penetrated with a plastic bottle and a banana. The woman’s DNA was later found on the crutches that were used by the injured player. Police say one of the men admitted to having used them to touch the woman’s genitals.

One of the two players charged with failing to intervene will also claim that the woman had made “sexual sounds” that had indicated her consent. The other told police that he had been in the hotel room, but having suffered a fracture to his ankle, had been in a lot of pain at the time, and was “confused”. He said he didn’t think the woman had been in distress, and hadn’t seen obvious signs indicating that she had not consented to sex.

Lawyers for the alleged victim will argue before the court that the woman had been incapable of consenting because she was intoxicated.

One of her lawyers, Grégoire Mouly, told The Irish Times that Mr Coulson took a taxi back to the hotel with the alleged victim, adding that CCTV footage would be shown to the court that suggests that the woman was barely able to walk due to the amount of alcohol she had consumed. Mr Mouly said the victim, who is now aged 27, was “disappointed” that the trial was not able to proceed as scheduled.

Mr Coulson, who turned 30 a day after the car crash, was playing with Grenoble at the time of the alleged gang rape. He ended his rugby career at Carcassonne in 2020 after being signed with Connacht Rugby for the 2017-18 season. His two co-accused still play professional rugby in France. Loïck Jammes (29) is a hooker with Provence Rugby club, while Rory Grice (34) plays with Division Two side, Oyonnax, in eastern France.

Chris Farrell, who played previously with Ulster and Munster, is also now signed with Oyannax, while Hayes is a flanker with the Division Two side, Valence Romans, based in the Drôme region of southeastern France.

The trial has been adjourned until December 2nd. The alleged victim has requested that proceedings be heard in camera, in the absence of the public and the media.