FIJI rugby star Api Ratuniyarawa has been jailed after he sexually assaulted three teens in a club just days before a crunch game.
The 37-year-old groped the girls, who were all aged 19, at Revolution in Cardiff on Halloween after drinking for three nights in a row.
Fiji international Api Ratuniyarawa attacked the women hours before a game in CardiffWNS
GettyThe player had been due to make an appearance for the Barbarians when he was arrested[/caption]
Ratuniyarawa had been due to play for the Barbarians against Wales at the Principality Stadium just three days later.
After he was charged just hours before the game, the player was scrapped from the team.
Ratuniyarawa has now been jailed for two years and 10 months.
He had admitted two counts of assault by penetration and a further charge of sexual assault.
Ratuniyarawa will serve up to half in custody and the rest in the community.
Cardiff Crown Court heard the attacks unfolded at the city centre cocktail bar between October 31 and November 1.
The dad-of-four had been binge-drinking for three days straight with his fellow rugby players before launching the attacks.
Prosecutor Heath Edwards said he had spent the week in Wales to prepare for the game but “appears to have spent many of his nights socialising” instead.
CCTV from inside the club showed Ratuniyarawa targeting the three girls.
In the first assault, he tried to kiss one of the victims while dancing as she repeatedly turned him down.
Ratuniyarawa could then be seen “clearly intoxicated” as he groped another victim.
In the third clip, he puts another teen on his lap and touches her sexually.
The court heard none of the girls know each other and all complained to police.
One victim told how Ratuniyarawa carried out the “shocking” and “very painful” assault.
She said: “I’m certainly not the same person I was before the attack.
“I struggle to think it was OK to do this to a 19-year-old girl.”
She said the star had “ruined my life by what he’s done” and that she was in her “own personal hell.”
Another girl told the court Ratuniyarawa had taken away her “identity, self-worth and confidence” and impacted her ability to be “intimate” with romantic partners.
She said she took comfort in the fact that she is “not alone in this”, adding: “I hope they are getting the help they need.”
While the third victim said the impact of the attack had led her to leave her job and have suicidal thoughts.
She said: “I get emotional when I think about the event.
“I haven’t returned to the place until recently, that took a lot of courage and trauma.”
Ratuniyarawa played for Northampton Saints in the Premiership for six years between 2016 and 2022.
He then spent a year at London Irish but was left without a club when it went into receivership last summer.
The court was told Ratuniyarawa had hoped an appearance for the Barbarians would lead to a new contract but he has since been forced to apply for benefits.
Ruth Smith, defending, said: “These are matters [that] arose out of primarily the consumption of alcohol.”
Ratuniyarawa has earned 38 caps for Fiji and played at the 2015 Rugby World Cup.
GettyApi Ratuniyarawa sexually assaulted the women in a nightclub[/caption]
WNSThe sex attacks took place in Revolution in Cardiff[/caption]