An Argentinian daily published recordings of an exchange between the complainant and a friend after her night spent in the company of Oscar Jegou and Hugo Auradou, whom she accuses of rape.
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New elements likely to revive the case of French rugby players Oscar Jegou and Hugo Auradou charged with rape in Argentina? The daily Clarin published, on Friday, August 9, voice recordings of the complainant, who claims to have suffered rape and violence from the two men. The 39-year-old Argentine exchange with a friend, on WhatsApp, on July 7, after the night spent in the company of the two Frenchmen. Since the beginning of the affair, the players have acknowledged a consensual sexual relationship, but have denied any rape.
In these messages, the complainant, who told the court that she had consumed marijuana and alcohol during the evening, does not seem to be in full possession of her faculties. Her voice is drawling, her articulation difficult. Basically, she thanks her friend for encouraging her to go out that evening and describes his meeting with Hugo Auradou. “I met a French rugby player. Really tall guy. So handsome, so handsome. I went home at 9 in the morning. At 9 o’clock.”she said to her friend, according to a translation by The Parisian. “When I go out, I enjoy it. He had a blast. He had a blast.”
The thirty-year-old presents the player as “super in love”but describes rough sex. “He took my cheek and left little bruises on my face, on my jaw, on my ass, scratches on my back. You can’t imagine, the little prick is huge.”she explains. “He blew me up, the guy. I have marks on my back, my jaw. I have a black eye, I have bruises all over my boobs, marks on my ass. He blew me up.”
“II had to take a Diclofenac [un anti-inflammatoire] because he blew me up. Plus, imagine with my teeth, him slapping me like that… My jaw is all bruised.”she also adds. In describing the exchange between the two women, the newspaper Clarin emphasizes that, “when she details what happenedthe friend tells her that she experienced a violent situation. The complaint was filed a few hours later, recalls the Argentinian media.
For the complainant’s lawyer, the content of the voice messages does not contradict the rape theory. “There are 23 voicemails in total and only four or five have been released, out of order, completely out of context.”Natacha Romano is indignant in Le Parisien. “Why not release the ones in which she tells how Oscar [Jegou] enters the room and rapes her?”
The lawyer denounces a “manipulation aimed at social condemnation of [sa] client”. And remember that the latter is, when sending these messages, “totally drunk, under the influence of drugs and under the effect of at least two anxiolytics.”
“It was an intimate conversation between two friends who were still a little under the influence of alcohol at the time,” the complainant’s brother also retorted to the Parisian. “This is not a valid element in comparison with the marks that appear on his body and are very “speaking,” he believes. A forensic report carried out on July 7, the day the complaint was filed, noted fifteen injuries recorded on the complainant’s body.
The French rugby players’ Argentinian lawyer, Rafael Cuneo Libarona, declined to comment on the leaked messages to the press. But he said Thursday he was convinced that his clients, under house arrest since July 17, were going “to quickly regain freedom”. He filed a request to this effect and theThe judge has until Monday to rule.If his request is accepted, the players will be able to return to France, even if the legal proceedings will continue in Argentina.