Secção infantil #4

Tennis dad given 8 years in prison for drugging children's rivals

MONT-DE-MARSAN, France, March 9, 2006 (AFP) - A Frenchman who drugged his teenaged children's tennis rivals, resulting in the accidental death of one of them, was given an eight-year prison sentence by a court here Thursday.
Christophe Fauviau, a 45-year-old retired army helicopter instructor, was found guilty of putting Temesta, a powerful anti-stress drug which causes lethargy, into the bottles of water of his son and daughter's opponents between 2000 and 2003.
One of the players, a 25-year-old teacher, fell asleep at the wheel of his car after abandoning a match against Fauvia's son Maxime and died in a crash in 2003.
Police investigating the accident discovered Temesta in the teacher's system and traced it back to Fauviau, aided by witness accounts from other players who recalled feeling woozy in matches against his children and one who saw the ex-colonel tampering with his water bottle.
"I began to feel unwell in the first set when I was leading four-three. I had vision problems and a loss of balance. I started seeing two balls," a young man who could not be named because he was a minor at the time of his 2003 match against Maxime said during the trial.
"The points started tumbling for Maxime. I couldn't even see the court. Afterwards I cannot remember much," he said.
Two other players who faced Maxime spoke of problems with their vision and "heavy legs".
Fauviau's sentence was less than the maximum 20 years in jail he could have received for drugging six opponents of Maxime and 21 opponents of his daughter Valentine between 2000 and 2003.
On the first day of his trial Wednesday, Fauviau explained he drugged the players' water because "I felt I was permanently being judged by my children's performance."
He told the court: "I was not well at the time. Each match was a terrible strain to me."
He also apologised to the parents of Alexandre, "if it is the case that I am responsible for the death of their son."
Valentine Fauviau, who is now 15 and a promising tennis hopeful, told Le Parisien newspaper Friday that she had no idea what her father was doing.
"I didn't know what was happening. On court I was alone, and I did not need him to win," she said.
"People often ask me now if I was aware of the difficulties some of my opponents must have had. But how could I imagine my father was responsible? In tennis people often have sunstroke or other difficulties.
"My father never wanted to do anyone any harm. Alexandre's death really destroyed him. There are many parents who push their children and go a little mad because of tennis," she said.