Steffon Armitage
A court in southern France called for further inquiries to be held into allegations of assault against Toulon’s former England flank Steffon Armitage.
Armitage faces a 5 to 6 month suspended prison sentence and €5,000 ($5,649) fine over the incident which occurred in a Toulon restaurant on 13 December.
“There are still a number of grey areas in this case that perhaps further investigation will throw light on,” Armitage’s lawyer Clement Lambert said.
Armitage, last season’s European player of the year and capped 5 times by England, is alleged to have struck a 31-year-old man at the end of an evening drinking with team-mates following their side’s 23 / 8 victory over Leicester in the European Champions Cup.
According to witnesses, a fight broke out and Armitage, 29, and Toulon prop Xavier Chiocci, 25, who was later released without charge by police, felled the restaurant-goer before striking him, injuring his eye.
At an earlier hearing 2 weeks ago, the prosecution demanded a suspended sentence and a hefty fine against Armitage, who reasserted his claim that he did not remember hitting anyone and disputed the facts.
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