Former Fiji international Api Ratuniyarawa has been jailed for three sexual assaults committed in the days leading up to a match he was due to play for the Barbarians in November.
Ratuniyarawa, who most recently played his professional rugby with London Irish in the Premiership, went to the Revolution bar on three consecutive nights out in Cardiff with his team-mates and while drunk assaulted a victim on each occasion.
Prosecutor Heath Edwards told the court: “On November 4 the Barbarians played Wales at the Principality Stadium. The defendant had been selected to play for the Barbarians and together with the rest of his team-mates had attended Cardiff in the week before the game to attend media commitments and training for the fixture.
“The defendant appears to have spent many of his nights socialising in Cardiff in advance of the game.
“The defendant has repeatedly attended the Revolution bar on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights of the week in run-up to the fixture. On each of those occasions, of those visits, he sexually assaulted a different lady in the VIP area of the bar.”
The father-of-four had been forced to apply for benefits following the collapse of his previous club London Irish, and had hoped that the Barbarians fixture against Wales would be an opportunity for him to showcase his ability to coaches throughout the British Isles.
The ex-Northampton and Agen lock was jailed for two years and ten months by Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke, who also placed Ratuniyarawa on the sex offenders register for 10 years and handed him a three-year restraining order against one of his victims.
Passing sentence, Lloyd-Clarke said: “I bear in mind the proposed starting points and ranges take into account the inevitable trauma of such offences.
“All the offences are aggravated because you were under the influence of alcohol and I bear in mind physical injury was caused as well as the psychological injury that was caused on all three occasions.
“For all three offences I note you stopped only because others intervened.
“On the other hand you are a man with no previous convictions and you are of positive good character and I accept that the remorse and shame you feel is genuine and I bear in mind the steps you have taken to address the cause of this behaviour.”
In their impact statements, his three victims described the traumatic effects the assaults have had on their lives.
One said: “You took away my independence, my self-worth, and my confidence.
“There are moments that I can’t help think that if I didn’t go out that night, if I didn’t dress up like I did and if I didn’t drink any alcohol, if I didn’t go into this area it wouldn’t have happened. I wouldn’t have to be reminded of it every single day.
“The main reason for coming forward was to stop this from happening to other people.”
Ruth Smith, defending, said Ratuniyarawa had asked for her to apologise to each of the three victims.
“It is with his deepest remorseful heart that he wants to convey how sorry he is with his actions the pain and damage he has caused to the victims and the shame he has brought to himself and his family,” she said.
“It is clear from watching the CCTV that the consumption of alcohol by the defendant was a highly significant factor in how the defendant came to act on the dates of these offences.
“The consumption of alcohol in these quantities was completely out of character.”
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