“He pulled down and pulled up his pants”: Benoît Kounkoud will finally be tried for sexual exhibition

Le joueur avait été placé quelques heures en garde à vue le 31 janvier, trois jours après avoir été sacré champion d’Europe avec l’équipe de France de handball à Cologne. MAXPPP – Guillaume Horcajuelo

The French team winger was accused of attempted rape by a woman in a nightclub at the end of January. He will finally appear for sexual exhibition at a guilty plea hearing next June.

Handball player Benoît Kounkoud, initially accused of attempted rape by a woman in a nightclub at the end of January, will finally appear for sexual exhibition during a plea hearing in June at the court of Paris, we learned on Monday from a source close to the matter.

The player was placed in police custody for a few hours on January 31, three days after being crowned European champion with the French handball team in Cologne (Germany). A 20-year-old woman accused him of trying to rape her "during an alcoholic evening in a nightclub in the 8th arrondissement" on the evening of January 30, the Paris prosecutor's office reported at the time.

"False accusations"

Benoît Kounkoud, 27, who plays for the Polish club Kielce, disputed the facts. He will appear in June during an appearance on prior admission of guilt (CRPC), a sort of French-style guilty plea, for "sexual exhibition", according to the nearby source.

"They were false accusations, it’s a non-issue : partying with his friends, he fell and pulled up his pants", his lawyer, Me Mario Stasi, told AFP. The prosecution will propose a sentence which will be approved or not by a judge during the hearing. The right winger joined the big Polish club in the summer of 2022, where two other 2024 European champions play, pivot Nicolas Tournat and left winger Dylan Nahi.

He previously wore the colors of Paris Saint-Germain, his training club. The French handball team won its fourth European title on January 28, beating Denmark in the final (33-31 a.p.).