Film star’s death ‘ tragic accident’, says rock singer

ON THE first day of his trial for killing his film star girlfriend, French rock star Bertrand Cantat admitted he tussled with Marie Trintignant in a hotel, but insisted her death was a tragic accident.

"We loved each other and our love was growing," the 40-year-old Cantat told a three judge panel in testimony lasting over an hour at the District Court in Vilnius, Lithuania's capital.

Cantat did not enter a clear not guilty plea to the manslaughter charge, something that is not required in the Baltic state's judicial system. He faces a maximum 15-year jail sentence, with the judges expected to hand down a verdict and sentence this week.

French media packed into the white-pillared courtroom to cover the trial of the lead singer of France's top-selling rock band, Noir Desir, or Black Desire in a case that has shocked and enthralled the nation.

Family and friends of both Cantat and Trintignant attended, with the actress's mother, Nadine Trintignant, arriving at the city-centre building dressed entirely in black. Cantat's mother and father, as well as members of his band, sat nearby.

Cantat was clean shaven and seemingly calm in stark contrast to his appearance last year at a pre-trial hearing when he looked dishevelled and dejected.

The multimillionaire singer, held in the Tsarist-era Lukiskes Prison since his arrest eight months ago, told judges he slapped 41-year-old Trintignant four times in a drunken stupor contradicting prosecutors who said he fatally punched her at least 19 times in a jealous rage.

"Everything happened very fast," he said. "Never, never did I want things to happen that way. This hand should never have risen. And I do not accept myself having raised this hand."

An ambulance was called to the hotel at around 7.30am, by which time Trintignant had already been in a coma for two hours. While still in a coma and on life support, she was flown by private jet days later to France dying the next day.

The love affair between the two artists was once the focus of public fascination in France. Her death has since prompted public soul searching about violence against women.

While some rallied to the singer-poet's defence, he is reviled by others. His house in France was recently destroyed by fire in mysterious circumstances, with many believing it was a revenge attack for Trintignant's death.

The daughter of actor Jean-Louis Trintignant was in Lithuania completing a film called Colette, about the feminist author. Her mother was directing the film. The actress was celebrated for often playing brutalised women in over 30 French and several English language films.

Her funeral was at the Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, where writer Oscar Wilde and rock star Jim Morrison are also buried.