Three Grenoble players charged with rape

Editor

After six Grenoble players were questioned by police last month over a gang rape charge, three have now been officially charged.

Prosecutors in Bordeaux have announced that Denis Coulson, 22, Rory Grice, 27, and Loick Jammes, 22 are accused of gang raping a 21-year-old woman in a hotel after she met them at a nightclub in Bordeaux following their Top 14 defeat by Bordeaux-Begles on March 11.

On March 22 Coulson, Grice and Jammes were arrested and detained at a police station in Bordeaux while Chris Farrell, Dylan Hayes and Peter Kimlin were brought in for questioning.

After this initial round of questioning, all the players were called in on Tuesday once again for questioning as part of an ongoing investigation except for Kimlin.

It appears that Kimlin, 31, Farrell, 24, and Hayes, 23 have been cleared of any wrongdoing, but the other three have been charged and could face a maxium prison sentence of 20 years if found guilty, according to sport24.co.za.

According to prosecutors, there was "serious or consistent evidence against them which makes their participation likely, as perpetrators or accomplices, in the offence of which they have been accused."