NEWS TC Robati stood down. Sexual Assault Charge

Well I hope this is a quick and decisive case and he's found innocent. Anything else and his days of a being a Bronco will be as good as over.
 
I'll wait for the details to emerge before I make a judgment, sometimes I see these sort of headlines and it ends up being nothing. Sort of like women know he's a footy player and this is their chance to get in the headlines, their 30 seconds of fame, so to speak.

I compare it to the soccer where the striker is in the penalty box, any sort of contact and he will make it look like he near lost a limb. Milford's was similar wasn't it?

Footage shown in court showed Milford assaulting a wheelie bin which hit a car.

Two women were hitting him, he didn't retaliate.
 
We need some @Jason Simmons expertise here.

What's the entire process TC will have to go through before he's out the other side of this?

I understand most of these sexual assault cases fail - something like 90% - and this one must be at the lower end of what is classified "sexual assault" if it's getting hands on in a public place (as is rumoured), rather than some violent penetration.

I ask because from what I've seen if these cases aren't dismissed at the first hearing, they can drag on for months and even years, during which time TC will be burning up cap and not available. If he's found guilty, I would think the club will dump him on the spot, but if it's quickly dismissed at the first hearing, there's even a chance he might be available for the start of the season.
 
We seriously need to start recruiting players who happen to have even a tablespoon of grey matter between their ears.
 
We need some @Jason Simmons expertise here.

What's the entire process TC will have to go through before he's out the other side of this?

I understand most of these sexual assault cases fail - something like 90% - and this one must be at the lower end of what is classified "sexual assault" if it's getting hands on in a public place (as is rumoured), rather than some violent penetration.

I ask because from what I've seen if these cases aren't dismissed at the first hearing, they can drag on for months and even years, during which time TC will be burning up cap and not available. If he's found guilty, I would think the club will dump him on the spot, but if it's quickly dismissed at the first hearing, there's even a chance he might be available for the start of the season.
Depends on the nature of the allegations and the strength of the brief. I’m not going to lie, when you are investigating a high profile person there is a certain level of pressure to not be seen to be giving ‘favours’ based on that person’s profile.

So QPS charging policy (based on prosecutorial guidelines from the DPP) cover a two tiered test - do you believe there is sufficient evidence to prove a charge beyond a reasonable doubt? Pretty straight forward and then the second test - is it in the public interest to prosecute? This one is a bit trickier because it is such a subjective stance…

In the case of someone such as a minor NRL figure everyone is aware there will be significant media coverage of the process and I feel at times it influences that ‘public interest’ standard we are required to meet. There is also a thought at times that the appropriate setting to decide the ‘iffy’ cases is a tribunal of fact a criminal court in Robati’s case.

I have no idea of the strength of the brief or otherwise on his matter. Someone believed there was enough of a case to charge his with sexually assaulting someone. He appeared on what is known as a first mention before christmas and I read in that article it was adjourned, likely for another mention in this new year.

As an indictable offence that can be heard summarily (subject to some conditions) or upon indictment I believe it is a defence election whether to have the matter dealt with in a Magistrates court or District court, though from what I have read Robati’s matter seems likely to be able to be dealt with in a Magistrates court rather quickly if he chose.

I suspect he is taking the adjournment time to instruct his lawyers and their strategy moving forward will be what dictates largely how long the process takes. It looks to be a relatively straight-forward brief from a Crown perspective with nothing required that should take too long to prepare (extensive forensic testing etc).
 
Sounds like he should be playing for us again soon enough.
 
Sounds like he should be playing for us again soon enough.
I can't see how we can form an opinion on any of this until we have a court date, and then a verdict. If he's found innocent he should play immediately. If not, no matter the penalty, the Broncos should let him go. That has to be the line in the sand, not some suspension.

Some might point at Kotoni, but he was never formally charged with sexual assault, just bounced for being a pest, IIRC.
 
Depends what exactly he's found guilty of in your scenario.....on whether or not we release him, IMO.
 
Going down a slippery slope if we only sack the ‘bad’ sexual assaults. That won’t go down well
 

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