Handball player Benoît Kounkoud, accused by a 20-year-old woman of having attempted to rape her in a Parisian nightclub on the night of Monday to Tuesday, “firmly contests” these “seriously false” accusations, his lawyer said on Thursday.
Less than 48 hours after being crowned European champion with the French team in Cologne (Germany), the right winger was taken into custody Tuesday morning in Paris for attempted rape, then released Wednesday during the day . Benoît Kounkoud “came out free from the police custody measure, and without any obligation”, underlined his counsel Me Mario Stasi in a press release sent to AFP.
Investigations continue
Before the investigators, he added, the player, who is 26 years old, was “able to voice his version of the facts of an evening without any violence whatsoever, in contrast to the slanderous denunciations of which he was unfairly the object and without any objective element of the file – hearings of witnesses and viewing of videos – having come to invalidate his statements. Me Stasi warned that his client “would not hesitate” to “enforce the presumption of innocence” from which he benefits, and “through any legal procedure”.
After the release of his police custody, the Paris prosecutor’s office indicated that investigations were continuing, “in particular in order to collect more testimonies”. At this stage, according to the public prosecutor, “a woman born in March 2003 accuses him of attempted rape, during an alcoholic evening in a nightclub in the 8th arrondissement.”
Kielce takes “the matter seriously”
In a press release released before the lifting of police custody, the Polish club Kielce, where Kounkoud has been playing since 2022, declared that it took “the matter seriously and (condemns) any behavior which violates the rules of social life”. “The club will take all appropriate action as soon as it receives official information regarding the incident. Pending clarification, the matter will not be subject to any comment,” added Kielce, one of the very best European teams, victorious in the Champions League in 2016 and finalist for the last two seasons. .
For its part, the French Handball Federation indicated that it was “not in a position to comment on this matter at this stage” and added that it remained “attentive to the follow-up that will be given by the judicial authorities”.