Former England cross-code convert Sam Burgess found guilty of intimidating father-in-law
Former South Sydney NRL captain Sam Burgess has been convicted of intimidating his then wife’s father, former mining lobbyist Mitchell Hooke.
A NSW magistrate on Friday found the 32-year-old had yelled “f*** you, I’m going to get you” 20 centimetres from Mr Hooke’s face during an expletive-riddled rage, sparked when Burgess was asked to leave the Hookes’ Southern Highlands property in October 2019.
“I accept Mr Hooke was terrified, that his whole body went cold,” magistrate Robert Rabbidge said in Moss Vale Local Court.
Burgess was found guilty of intimidation, having intended to cause Mr Hooke fear of physical or mental harm.
The retired star was sentenced to a two-year community corrections order, requiring him to be of good behaviour.
“I’m confused with the decision, I will appeal the decision and I won’t say anything further,” Burgess told reporters as he left court.
Burgess had denied swearing in the home and cast the father of his estranged wife Phoebe Burgess as the aggressor
Ultimately Burgess’s own words undermined his defence, the magistrate found.
The former footballer conceded his father-in-law did exclaim “What are you going to do? Hit a 64-year-old man?” during the incident.
But – disputing Mr Hooke’s evidence that the statement came after Burgess aggressively yelled centimetres from his face – Burgess said it occurred when the men were metres apart on the property’s driveway angrily cursing each other.
“Surely such words could only be uttered after a close encounter,” the magistrate said.
Burgess also texted his estranged wife 20 minutes after the encounter that her father had been “provoking me”.
“I find the words used … (is) a concession on his part that he was the aggressor,” Mr Rabbidge said.
All Blacks and Hurricanes hooker Dane Coles has dropped a major hint that 2021 may be his final year of professional rugby.https://t.co/z13c1xFps5
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 5, 2021
Noting people in a highly emotional state can say things they later regret, the magistrate accepted Burgess had become annoyed and angry when told to leave the Hookes ‘ Daffodil Downs property in Glenquarry before Ms Burgess returned.
Mr Hooke in October testified his own calm words were rebutted with “f*** you, I’m going to get you, you orchestrated all of this”.
“Six foot five, 118 kilograms, threatening to hit me, I was terrified,” Mr Hooke told the court.
“I had never felt fear like it. My whole body went cold.”
Mr Rabbidge said Mr Hooke’s version was clear and concise, as opposed to the defendant’s “changeable” testimony.
“What is incontrovertible is the shock and distress that Mr Hooke displayed to his daughters and police,” the magistrate said.
Burgess’s legal team had alleged Mr Hooke and Ms Burgess set out to harm Burgess’ career and reputation by making the allegation and orchestrating a damaging expose on the retired Rabbitoh published by News Corp Australia in October 2020.
“I do not accept that Mr Hooke was so spiteful that he would set out to make a false claim to harm Mr Burgess’s career,” the magistrate said.
Burgess retired in 2019 after a 270-game NRL and English Super League career and stints with England’s national rugby union and rugby league sides.
He stood down from roles as a commentator and South Sydney assistant coach in October.
Comments on RugbyPass
After their 5/0 start, I had the Crusaders to finish Top 4 only…they lost the plot in Perth but will reload and back themselves vs 4th placed Rebels…
3 Go to commentsBoth nations missed a great opportunity to book a game that would have had a lot of interest from around the world. I understand these games can’t be organised in 5 minutes but they should have found a way to make it happen. I don’t think Wales are ducking anyone but it’s a bad look haha.
3 Go to commentsIt will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
2 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
3 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
28 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
3 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to comments