Martine Dugrenier, the partner of French judoka Mark Petit-Beauchamp, has been released from her jail sentence for assaulting her and has been placed under house arrest, less than four months after her conviction.
Following a trial in which Dugrenier, from Tours, appeared largely unrepentant, a panel at the Court of Appeal handed down a two-year suspended sentence and a fine of €1,500 ($1,750).
Dugrenier was found guilty of violently and indecently attacking Petit-Beauchamp on June 14 of last year. The alleged attacks occurred after drinking on a night out in Paris with Petit-Beauchamp’s co-workers from judo company Sapphire. Dugrenier had previously worked as a teacher and drama coach at Petit-Beauchamp’s judo club in Tours.
Dugrenier, 38, had testified that the abuse came from an “insidious person,” and her attackers had laughed at her as she left the court.
Trial for former Mark Petit Beauchamp judo coach Martine Dugrenier. Teacher for 19 yrs, got 2 years suspended prison sentence. Victim of loo abuse now victim of violence & abuse by coach @courant pic.twitter.com/00rYcHMqXZ — Margot Jacobsen (@margotjacobsen) February 7, 2018
“I thought I was dead, I could never forget what happened to me. He was choking me, then he punched me on the back of the head. And that was it,” she told the court during the trial. “The yelling – I could not make out what they were saying. But they were screaming. Then I began to scream, because I couldn’t breathe. They were laughing – at me.”
Petit-Beauchamp’s mother, Caroline, told the judge that her son had been traumatized by the assault and that Dugrenier should be punished.
Dugrenier was stripped of her teaching title and the result of the 2013 World Championships in Dubai, won by Petit-Beauchamp.
In addition to the house arrest sentence, she was ordered to complete an anger management course and to do 10 hours of community service. She is also forbidden from contacting her victim.