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French Appeals Court Confirms Prison Sentences for 3 Ex-Grenoble Rugby Players for Rape
The court said the 3 men remain guilty after weighing the seriousness of the facts and the lack of any significant change from the first ruling.
On Saturday, a French appeals court upheld the original prison sentences for three former Grenoble rugby players convicted of raping a 20-year-old student in 2017.
Irishman Denis Coulson and Frenchman Loïck Jammes were sentenced to 14 years in prison, while New Zealand's Rory Grice received 12 years for the assault in Bordeaux.
Presiding judge Marie-Dominique Boulard-Paolini cited the "seriousness of the facts" and noted the absence of any notable change since the original December 2024 ruling.
Lawyers for the defendants announced they would appeal to the Court of Cassation, France's highest judicial body, within the ten-day deadline allowed for filing.
The men claimed the sexual encounter in a Bordeaux hotel was consensual, though all three have remained imprisoned since their initial December 2024 sentencing.
They were tried for rape in a meeting of a student in Bordeaux in 2017 after a Top 14 game lost against the Union Bordeaux-Bègles. The lawyers of the three accused announced that they were seeking cassation. - Three ex-rugbymen were sentenced on appeal for rape with sentences of up to 14 years in prison (Police, justice and other facts).