French actress dies after beating

FRENCH actress Marie Trintignant, who was beaten into a deep coma on Sunday, died yesterday in a Paris hospital, doctors said. She was 41.

Her boyfriend, French rock star Bertrand Cantat, has been remanded in custody in Lithuania as the prime suspect in her attack.

Her mother, the director Nadine Trintignant, and her film star father Jean-Louis flew her back to Paris last night on a private jet, despite warnings from Lithuanian doctors that the journey might kill her.

Neurosurgeon Stephane Delajoux said attempts to relieve the pressure from bleeding on her brain had failed. She had been on life support for several days.

A Lithuanian judge yesterday ordered that Cantat, lead singer with the popular French band Noir Desire (Black Desire), be held in custody at a high security jail until August 14 while police investigate.

Trintignant had been in Lithuania playing the lead role in a TV mini series about a writer.

She was attacked in her room at the Domina Plaza Hotel in the capital Vilnius, where she was staying with her mother, son and 39-year-old Cantat.

The singer and guitarist appeared in court there yesterday in handcuffs, unshaven, pale and dejected.

The actress's mother Nadine, who had been directing a film in Lithuania starring her daughter, also appeared in the crowded courtroom. In an emotional appeal to the judge, she said Cantat should remain in custody because he was a danger to others.

"Hatred is a negative feeling," she said. "But I cannot help feeling it after these terrible deeds Cantat did to my daughter."

Later, Cantat, his voice breaking, addressed the court, saying he was sorry about what had happened but that it was an accident.

"I ask for pardon from Nadine and her children," he said.

Cantat was admitted to the same Vilnius hospital on Sunday after drinking "dangerously high" amounts of alcohol.

Lawyers in Lithuania said some sort of murder charge was a real possibility.