New conviction for acts of domestic violence in the world of French rugby. This Wednesday, the Béziers criminal court handed down a fourteen-month suspended prison sentence against New Zealander Taleta Tupuola (35), who plays for AS Béziers Hérault in Pro D2. He was also required to undergo treatment for alcohol addiction.
Tupuola had been accused by his wife of violence which resulted in a total incapacity for work for six days at the beginning of October. The facts with which he was accused took place after returning from an evening with friends, when the player was heavily intoxicated. Taken into custody on October 16 and 17, he did not question the facts. The prosecutor had requested an 18-month suspended sentence.
A conviction which comes at a time when French rugby is in business. The one involving Oscar Jegou and Hugo Auradou, accused of rape in Argentina, has obviously caused a lot of news, but it is not the only one in terms of sexual violence or violence against women.
Five ex-Grenoble players will be tried on December 2 at the Bordeaux assizes for a rape case dating back to 2017, the pillars Mohamed Haouas and Wilfrid Hounkpatin were convicted of domestic violence, when an investigation was opened after the complaint of a young woman against several Espoirs from Bourg-en-Bresse last June.