Ex-Scotland captain Stuart Hogg given one-year payback order for domestic abuse

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Ex-Scotland captain Stuart Hogg given one-year payback order for domestic abuse

2025-01-09 23:38 Last Updated At：23:41

SELKIRK, Scotland (AP) — Former Scotland rugby captain Stuart Hogg has been sentenced to a community payback order after admitting to abusing his estranged wife over a five-year period.

Hogg pleaded guilty to a single charge of domestic abuse against his ex-partner Gillian Hogg when he appeared at Selkirk Sheriff Court on Nov. 4. He admitted shouting and swearing, tracking her movements and sending her messages which were of an alarming and distressing nature.

Sheriff Peter Paterson sentenced Hogg to a community order with one year’s supervision when he appeared at Selkirk Sheriff Court for sentencing on Thursday, the British Press Association reported.

Paterson said the sentence was an “alternative to custody.”

He also imposed a further non-harassment order preventing Hogg from approaching or contacting Gillian Hogg for five years, mirroring an order imposed last month.

Stuart Hogg, wearing a dark jacket and tie, did not speak as he left the court.

Stuart Hogg was already banned from approaching or contacting Gillian Hogg for five years in December after he admitted breaching bail conditions by repeatedly contacting her in June, when she received 28 texts from him in one night.

Hogg, who retired from professional rugby in 2023 but returned after signing for French club Montpellier, lives abroad and is in the process of divorcing his wife.

Hogg came through Scotland’s age groups and made his senior debut in the 2012 Six Nations. He was player of the tournament in 2016 and 2017. He was named captain in 2020.

He was awarded an MBE for services to rugby in last year’s British New Year's honors list.

AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby

In their words: Survivors and others talk about fatal Swiss Alpine bar fire

CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland (AP) — In the aftermath of a fire inside a Swiss Alpine bar that killed 40 people celebrating the new year, survivors, friends and family members, the region’s top authorities and even Pope Leo have spoken to the public in remarks in French, Italian, German and English, reflecting the tradition of Swiss multilingualism.

Another 119 people were injured in the blaze early Thursday as it ripped through the busy Le Constellation bar at the ski resort of Crans-Montana, authorities said. It was one of the deadliest tragedies in Switzerland’s history.

Investigators said Friday that they believe sparkling candles atop Champagne bottles ignited the fatal fire when they came too close to the ceiling of the crowded bar.

Here’s a look at what people said in the wake of the disaster:

— “I’m looking everywhere. The body of my son is somewhere,” Laetitia Brodard told reporters Friday in Crans-Montana as she searched for her son, 16-year-old Arthur. “I want to know, where is my child, and be by his side. Wherever that may be, be it in the intensive care unit or the morgue.”

— “We were bringing people out, people were collapsing. We were doing everything we could to save them, we helped as many as we could. We saw people screaming, running,” Marc-Antoine Chavanon, 14, told The Associated Press in Crans-Montana on Friday, recounting how he rushed to the bar to help the injured. “There was one of our friends: She was struggling to get out, she was all burned. You can’t imagine the pain I saw.”

— “It was hard to live through for everyone. Also probably because everyone was asking themselves, ‘Was my child, my cousin, someone from the region at this party?’” Eric Bonvin, general director of the regional hospital in Sion that took in dozens of injured people, told AP on Friday. “This place was very well known as somewhere to celebrate the new year,” Bonvin said. “Also, seeing young people arrive — that’s always traumatic.”

— “I have seen horror, and I don’t know what else would be worse than this,” Gianni Campolo, a Swiss 19-year-old who was in Crans-Montana on vacation and rushed to the bar to help first responders, told France's TF1 television.

—“You will understand that the priority today is truly placed on identification, in order to allow the families to begin their mourning,” Beatrice Pilloud, the Valais region's attorney general, told reporters Friday during a news conference in Sion.

Pope Leo said in a telegram Friday to the bishop of Sion that he " wishes to express his compassion and concern to the relatives of the victims. He prays that the Lord will welcome the deceased into His abode of peace and light, and will sustain the courage of those who suffer in their hearts or in their bodies.”

— “We have numerous accounts of heroic actions, one could say of very strong solidarity in the moment,” Cantonal head of government Mathias Reynard told RTS radio Friday. "In the first minutes it was citizens — and in large part young people — who saved lives with their courage.”

— “Switzerland is a strong country not because it is sheltered from drama, but because it knows how to face them with courage and a spirit of mutual help," Swiss President Guy Parmelin, speaking on his first day in the position that changes hands annually, told reporters Thursday.