Ex-Wallaby and Grenoble player Peter Kimlin held by police in gang rape case
Ellen Whinnett and Rory Mulholland, News Corp Australia Network
March 23, 2017 5:58am
FORMER Wallaby Peter Kimlin is among six rugby players detained in custody in France as police investigate allegations made by a young woman that she was drugged and gang-raped.
Kimlin, 31, was taken into custody today with five teammates from his French Top 14 rugby side Grenoble.
The former ACT Brumby and the five others — two Irish, two New Zealanders and a Frenchman — were questioned at the Grenoble police station. Kimlin said on Twitter that he was not arrested and was at the station helping police with their inquiries.
A woman has alleged to police she was drugged at a nightclub and taken to a hotel room where several men had sex with her without her consent.
The incident is alleged to have happened after Grenoble lost a match in Bordeaux against the local team on Saturday, March 11.
Police from Bordeaux, near France’s Atlantic coast, were dispatched to Grenoble, a city in the Alps, to question the players.
After several hours of questioning on Wednesday morning (Paris time), the Bordeaux prosecutor announced that six men were being kept in custody for a period of 24 hours, which can be prolonged for a further day before they have to be released or charged.
The prosecutor did not provide names or nationalities, but French media, including those at the Grenoble police station, confirmed Kimlin’s name.
The others were prop Denis Coulson and centre Chris Farrell, both from Ireland, New Zealander back rowers Rory Grice and Dylan Hayes, and French hooker Loick Jammes.
Three of the players were accompanied by lawyers while the other three were apparently not represented and entered the police station through a back door.
It was not immediately clear if Kimlin was being represented by a lawyer.
But a lawyer for Denis Coulson said that her client was “serene” because the allegations against him and his fellow players did not stack up.
“It was an evening between consenting young people. We have provided elements that will enable (investigators) to establish the truth of this consent,” lawyer Michele Girot-Marc told local paper Le Dauphine Libere.
She said the players were being interviewed one-by-one with the help of interpreters.
The six players were all suspended last week by the club ahead of their questioning by police.
Police also questioned Grenoble club official Michel Martinez as a witness, the Dauphine Libere reported.
It said several other Grenoble club officials and players were also expected to be questioned during the day as witnesses.
Officials have provided no details of what happened the night of the alleged rape during post-match festivities in Bordeaux.
But local media have reported that the allegedly drugged victim has told police she woke in a hotel room and discovered that several players were engaged in sexual activities with her.
Media reports said that Bordeaux police were examining CCTV footage from the hotel where the alleged rape took place, and were interviewing the taxi driver who took the woman and her male companions to that hotel.
Grenoble rugby club said in a statement that if the accusations were confirmed, “this would be extremely serious and would incur appropriate reactions from our club.”
Kimlin is the second Australian rugby player to spend time in custody in France recent weeks.
Another former Wallaby, James O’Connor, spent a weekend in jail after being arrested with former All Black Ali Williams by undercover police outside a Parisian nightclub on February 25.
O’Connor was fined for use of cocaine while Williams was charged, and will front court, after being accused by police of purchasing 2.4 grams of cocaine from a dealer outside the nightclub.
The 26-year-old was suspended by his Top 14 club Toulon at the time but returned to training on Tuesday.
He is unlikely to have his contract renewed with Toulon in July.
http://www.perthnow.com.au/sport/rug...0010b8e7c650cf
