French rugby players' alleged rape victim suffered 'fierce' violence: lawyer

The Argentine woman accusing two French national rugby players of rape suffered "fierce" violence at the hands of her assailants, sustaining multiple injuries, her lawyer told AFP on Wednesday.

The pair, 20-year-old Hugo Auradou and Oscar Jegou, 21, are waiting to be transferred from Buenos Aires to the city of Mendoza where the alleged crime took place and where they will be questioned by prosecutors. They have not been charged with a crime.

Natacha Romano sat down with AFP on Wednesday to lay out her client's allegations.

She said the woman, aged 39, claims to have accompanied one of the men to a hotel in central Mendoza in the early morning hours of Sunday after they met at a nightclub.

Once they entered the hotel room, the woman "realized that the invitation for a drink was a ruse" and asked to go to the restroom.

The man "realized that she wanted to escape, immediately grabbed her, threw her on the bed, started to undress her and savagely started to beat her with his fist," said Romano of her client's account of the alleged incident.

The woman has bruises on her face, back, breasts, legs and ribs to prove the beating she took, said the lawyer, as well as various bite and scratch marks.

"The violence was fierce," said Romano. "There is more than one crime to investigate."

- 'Devastated' victim -

The complainant said she was choked until she nearly passed out, at which point the rape began.

A second assailant entered the room later and joined in the rape and the beating, according to the victim's account.

Romano says her client claims to have been raped at least six times over a period of hours by the first assailant, and once by the second.

She managed to escape from the hotel at about 8:30 am, "a woman degraded, devastated," said Romano.

Auradou and Jegou have claimed through their defense lawyer that they had consensual sex with the accuser.

Romano told AFP that "the overwhelming proof that there was no consent is the victim's body" and the wounds it bears.

The men were detained at the prosecutors' request on Monday in Buenos Aires, from where they were due to have flown to Uruguay for a rugby match with France's national team.

If the men are charged, Romano said she would ask the court to remand them in pre-trial custody.

The charge, she added, should be "sexual assault with carnal access," the Argentine legal definition for rape, along with use of violence.

tev/lv/mlr/bjt