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GRENOBLE, France - Former French rugby captain Marc Cecillon went on trial on Monday charged with murdering his wife in a drunken rage at a party two years ago.
Cecillon, 47, a loose forward who won 46 caps for France, has admitted shooting his wife Chantal with a Magnum revolver in August 2004 before some 60 party guests. But he has said he only wanted to intimidate her, not kill her.
Investigators said Cecillon, who captained France five times, had fallen into alcoholism after his retirement from rugby in 2003. Psychologists said he had a fragile personality and was prone to "raving, passionate jealousy".
Wearing a white shirt and glasses, the heavy-built Cecillon avoided eye contact with his two daughters as he entered the court in the southeastern city of Grenoble. He could face a life sentence if found guilty when the verdict is announced on Friday.
His daughters, who appeared as co-plaintiffs in the case, told police their father's alcoholism had turned family life into hell. One of them burst into tears in the courtroom.
"He knows I'm not expecting his apologies and that I don't want them," his wife's mother Marinette Chapuis told reporters.
"It's not a question of revenge against Marc Cecillon," the daughters' lawyer Xavier Rodamel said.
"But neither is excusing his gesture the issue. The victim must find a place in the courtroom."
Police said Cecillon had been drinking heavily at the 2004 party in the southern village of Saint-Savin and was asked to leave after he slapped a woman.
He returned with a revolver and shot several times at his wife when she refused to follow him outside. Cecillon suffered a head injury when other party goers overpowered him.
Cecillon told investigators he loved his wife but said the two fought often and she had threatened to leave him.
- REUTERS
