Fijian international Vinaya Habosi, a winger for Racing 92, was arrested in Hauts-de-Seine and taken into police custody on Sunday 15 September for domestic violence, Agence France-Presse learned on Monday from a police source, confirming information from Parisian. According to the newspaper, he was still there on Monday morning and the Nanterre prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation for aggravated violence. According to witnesses, the 24-year-old pushed and then hit his partner in the presence of his baby, which was confirmed at the time by the victim to the police, who intervened at the player’s home.
According to the same police source, Vinaya Habosi presented “various signs of drunkenness” during the events. He was arrested in the early afternoon and immediately taken into police custody in Clamart (Hauts-de-Seine). “Racing 92 has been informed of the charges against its player Vinaya Habosi. Pending further information from the relevant authorities, Racing 92 refrains from making any further comments.”his club said in a brief press release on Monday afternoon. The winger is expected to be sacked, according to information from The team.
On Saturday, the residents of Île-de-France beat Clermont (33-20) during the second day of the French rugby championship. A success in which Vinaya Habosi participated from the bench, coming on at the end of the match to play ten minutes. The Fijian international (11 caps) arrived in Île-de-France in 2023, from the Fijian Drua – the Fijian franchise of Super Rugby, the championship that brings together the best clubs in the southern hemisphere – a club from which he had been excluded. ‘due to a high-level breach of the club’s code of conduct’.
This arrest comes as rugby has just regained its rights in the Top 14, after a dark summer. During Les Bleus’ tour of South America, full-back Melvyn Jaminet posted a video on Instagram for the first time in which he made racist comments, which earned him immediate exclusion from the group and a suspension of thirty years and four weeks, in front of Rochelais Oscar Jégou and Palois Hugo Auradou were charged with aggravated rape. The two 21-year-old rugby players returned to France at the beginning of September, but remain pursued by the Argentine justice system.
