French rock star jailed for killing actress girlfriend

ROCK star Bertrand Cantat was jailed for eight years yesterday for beating his film star girlfriend to death in a case that horrified France.

The 40-year-old lead singer of one of France's most popular bands, Noir Desir (Black Desire), was convicted of the manslaughter of 41-year-old Marie Trintignant in a hotel room in Lithuania's capital Vilnius last July.

The love affair between the two artists was once the focus of public fascination in France, where fans were shaken by the killing.

Ms Trintignant, who often played brutalised women in more than 30 French and several English language films, was making a film when the two had the fatal dispute in their hotel.

Cantat admitted he tussled with Ms Trintignant, but insisted her death was a tragic accident.

"We loved each other and our love was growing," he told the court as he was questioned by judges, tears welling in his eyes.

Cantat did not enter a clear not guilty plea, something that is not required in the Baltic state's judicial system.

"The guilt of the accused is unquestionable," presiding judge Vilmantas Gaidelis said in Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital. "He did not want the consequences (of the beating), but they occurred."

Cantat's lawyer, Olivier Metzner, said he would appeal the manslaughter verdict and sentence, calling it "absolutely excessive".

The singer could have been jailed for 15 years.

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

The multi-millionaire singer, held in the Tsarist-era Lukiskes Prison since his arrest eight months ago, told judges he slapped Ms 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 during the trial. "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."

By the time an ambulance was called to the hotel Ms Trintignant had 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 where she died .

Her death prompted public soul searching in France about violence against women.

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

The daughter of actor Jean-Louis Trintignant, who starred in the film A Man and a Woman, was in Lithuania completing a film called Colette, about an early feminist. Her mother directed the film.

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