South Sydney will take no action against back rower Ben Te’o after allegations of domestic violence were made against him by Brisbane woman who will be the subject of a Channel 9 interview later tonight.
The incident is alleged to have occurred on Friday the 19th of April after the Australia vs New Zealand test match in Canberra. News Limited is reporting that Te’o and Boyd visited the Brisbane home of Corey Norman where the alleged incident took place.
It is alleged that Newcastle fullback Darius Boyd and Brisbane utility Corey Norman both witnessed the incident. News Limited is reporting that Norman contacted Police on 000.
Ben Te’o released this statement to the media a short time ago:
I wish to make the following statement in relation to rumours circulating about an incident which occurred approximately one month ago in Brisbane.
I am making this statement on the understanding that a television network intends to broadcast a story this evening which does not give a true account of the incident.
I have not provided a statement to this network in response to the story.
I understand that the news story contains a claim by a female that I was involved in an altercation with her at a house in Brisbane.
I have not been informed of the exact nature of the news story, however I am able to refute entirely any suggestion that I acted improperly.
On the night in question, I found myself in unfortunate circumstances that were not caused by me and I acted appropriately to deal with a difficult situation.
I called the police to report the incident and have the female removed from the house.
I have not pressed charges against the female and to the best of my knowledge no charges have been laid against me.
I don’t wish to go into any further detail about this matter because I regard the incident as unfortunate and something I wish to leave behind me.
I have offered my co-operation to the Police, the NRL integrity unit, my Club and other authorities to ensure that this matter is dealt with in the appropriate way.
To this point I have not had any contact from the Police since their attendance at the house, and neither my management nor my Club have had any contact from the Police or the female at the centre of this news story.
Accordingly I have no further comment to make at this stage.
At this stage no charges have been laid against To’e or the woman involved. Police are the only people that can press charges in Australia, individuals can not press charges. So right now this is all in the hands of the police.
Because of that it seems that South Sydney are willing to leave it with Police and until any charges are laid they are happy for life to go on as though nothing happened.
Last week I was made aware that a picture was being sent around allegedly showing a women with a black eye that she received from an NRL player. I never saw this picture, but told those talking about it, repeatedly, to take the picture to the police. This wasn’t a story, this was a young woman’s life I was concerned about.
It seems that Channel 9 managed to get an interview with the woman in the pictures and that is the only reason why all of this is coming out.
Think about that for a moment…
If this wasn’t going to come out in a Channel 9 interview….would we have seen any action taken against Te’o? This picture is obviously doing the rounds in Rugby League. Why have they taken only action NOW rather than when they originally found out about the incident? Why didn’t they address this as soon as they become aware that something had happened?
We are only a few days out from finishing Women In League round where the NRL and its clubs told us how much the respect the contributions of women to the game of Rugby League. I wrote last week that I believe Women In League round is a load of bullshit. Incidents like this solidify my opinion.
I’m not going to be the judge, jury and executioner. The Police need to be allowed to do their job.
I will say this…
It does nothing for South Sydney or Ben Te’o to have this hanging over their head right now. Surely the best thing to do is stand Te’o down as the investigation continues. There is no harm in standing Te’o down. I’m sure the last thing he needs is to become a target on the field and in the face of the media by continuing to be a part of the South Sydney Rabbitohs team right now.
Once again, Rugby League has circled the wagons when it comes to an allegation of domestic violence against a player.
Women in League……yeah right……
Great pice mate, although i disagree with standing a player down when no charges, arrests or guilt have been found. As peter Badel reported the woman has not filed a formal complaint as of yet. Once the public sees that someone has been stood down then they generally believe that it is true even when in the future it is found to be false. Look at Stewarts case for example. Although the case was thrown out every away game he is still called a rapist by opposing fans. Even in origin he copped it from the crowd. If he is found to be guilty then i say fuck him and ban him for life. Same as what should have happened to Isacc Gordon and Robert Lui.
The public, in every single incident, believes players are guilty anyway!
Every time an issue like this comes up, I get so many tweets about players who have been found not guilty of incidents in the past. I don’t reply to them. I can’t.
That is the issue. There is going to be no change to a players reputation when something like this happens if you stand them down and they are found not guilty. The fact that something has been alleged to have happened is enough.
I think for the game, for its reputation, the best thing to do in these circumstances is stand a player down and let justice take it course.
I think that is far less messy than backing a player and getting to the end of a public relations disaster and finding out you have a Robert Lui on your hands.
Fair points there. But if what if nothing happens in the case? As there have been no charges and if there isn’t any forthcoming when is the time to reinstate him?
So what happens now that police have closed the investigation? This story gets weirder and weirder.
I don’t know mate.
Its not the first time this has happened. It seems like a pretty dangerous loop hole to have in our laws if you ask me. It is such an ordeal to go through this process at the best of time, let alone when it turns into a media event.
I also think that it ties the NRL’s hands too. How can they say anyone is guilty before the Police do? They can’t.
And if they do it opens a whole other chestnut of litigation and compensation.