French rock star Bertrand Cantat has admitted on the first day of his trial for killing his film star girlfriend that he tussled with Marie Trintignant in a hotel.
However, Cantat (40) insisted her death was a tragic accident. "We loved each other and our love was growing," he told a three-judge panel 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 in black. Cantat's mother and father, as well as members of his band, sat nearby.
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 7:30 a.m., 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 - but died the next day.
Cantat's house in France was recently destroyed by fire in mysterious circumstances, with many believing it was a revenge attack for Trintignant's death.