FRANCE: France's former rugby captain was under arrest for murder yesterday after allegedly shooting his wife dead at a party on Saturday night.
About 60 fellow guests, who had gathered in Bourgoin-Jallieu, near Lyon, central France, to celebrate the end of the rugby season, were reported to have witnessed Marc Cecillon pull out a handgun and shoot his wife Chantal three or four times. She was hit in the head and throat.
The shots were said to have caused panic among the guests. The former rugby captain apparently received a blow to the head in the confusion and was himself hospitalised before being taken into police custody.
Police said that he had been under the influence of alcohol and had not sobered up until yesterday morning. "He had a row with friends, left the party and returned half an hour later with a pistol, and began to shoot," one guest at the open-air gathering said.
Mr Cecillon, 45, is regarded as one of the best French players of his generation. He retired in 1999 after playing for France 46 times, and captaining his country on numerous occasions.