Ireland international Chris Farrell sentenced with former Grenoble players in gang rape case

Five former Grenoble players, including Ireland centre Chris Farrell, have been handed varying sentences after being found guilty following a gang rape trial in Bordeaux.

Denis Coulson, the ex-Connacht prop who previously represented Ireland Under-20, was sentenced to 14 years in prison for gang rape. Loïck Jammes received 14 years for the same crime, with New Zealander Rory Grice also sentenced to 12 years for gang rape.

Farrell and Dylan Hayes, another New Zealander, were convicted of ‘failing to assist a person in danger’. The former was handed a four-year sentence, two of which have been suspended and two of which can be served under house arrest with an electronic tag. Hayes received a two-year suspended sentence. The defendants will also pay the victim €50,000 (£42,000).

Grice and Farrell are currently contracted to Oyonnax, where they are coached by Joe El-Abd, the England defence coach. Oyonnax issued a statement on Saturday morning in response to the verdicts, declaring that the club would come to a decision on the future of those two players and communicate it in the coming days.

Almost immediately after the trial, reports in France suggested that lawyers of Coulson, Jammes and Grice had announced their attention to appeal the sentences. Corinne Dreyfus-Schmidt, the representative of Coulson, stressed that her client was now ill and unable to walk well.

The allegations, which were denied, dated back to March 2017 when the five players visited a nightclub after a Top 14 match between Grenoble and Union Bordeaux-Bègles, which the latter won 46-14.

They were made by a 21-year-old female student who had been attending a birthday celebration. She filed a complaint with police, alleging that she had been subjected to gang rape and that a crutch had been used during the assault.

According to reports, the student, named as ‘V’ during court proceedings this week, alleged that she had been with two friends when she met the players and accompanied them from a bar to a nightclub where all of them drank heavily.

She said she had no recollection of how she got from the club to a hotel where she woke up, naked on a bed with several men in the room.

Coulson, Jammes and Grice stated they had sexual relations with the victim but claimed the encounter was consensual. Farrell, the owner of the crutch, was present, as was Hayes.

The verdicts in this week’s trial, part of which was held behind closed doors at the request of the lawyers for the complainant, were delivered at around 8.30pm local time on Friday evening in Courtroom G in Bordeaux’s Cour d’Assises.

A report in L’Equipe explained that there had been over eight hours of deliberation. Coulson’s father and sister were present, as well as the wife of Grice. The victim was surrounded by her mother, her brother and several friends.

Coulson and Farrell both joined Grenoble in 2014 and played for the club until 2017, the latter subsequently joining Munster and winning 15 caps for Ireland.