Patrice Evra: Former France star opens up about sexual abuse claims
France rugby star Tristan Gatien has revealed he is being sought by police after he was allegedly abused by a former team-mate.
The 23-year-old Gatien made the revelations during a podcast he was recording on Wednesday, which he said has been published on YouTube.
The former Racing Metro winger, who plays for Toulon, is the subject of an investigation which is being carried out by local authorities in the southern city of Carcassonne.
However, Gatien said that the probe “is not about rugby” and that he is seeking to “defend my name”.
Gatien is alleged to have told the police he believed his former team-mate, Nicolas Delpierre, was involved in a sex act with him.
A photograph of Delpierre, who is also 23, was posted on social media last week after he posted a video on his Facebook page in which he said Gatien had taken his shirt off and appeared to perform a sex act on him.
Gatien, who said he left France in 2012, told the podcast that he was shocked by the claims made about him by Delpierre and said police have contacted him as a result.
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He said: “I was never threatened by Nicolas Delpierre. He’s a kid. I’m 20 years old and he is 23. I just think if I have this on camera, all my friends will see. I just wanted to record something as positive as possible because for me, this is not about rugby. It’s not a game.
“It’s my life too. They are putting me on the cover of French magazine. I’ve changed my life so much as a rugby player and I don’t just want to be remembered as a rugby player. I don’t want to be remembered as a guy with a sex crime scandal.”
During the podcast, Gatien also said he had asked the police not to look into the claim of sexual abuse because he feared he would receive death threats.
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