The footage of Canberra Raiders fullback Jack Wighton’s drunken rampage and assault of five men will be made public after his bid to have it suppressed failed.
Prosecutor Katie McCann handed up CCTV of the Civic incident and pictures of the victims' injuries in the ACT Magistrates Court on Monday, however, the footage and images will not be released publicly until after the Raiders star is sentenced in November.
Raiders fullback Jack Wighton’s bid to suppress the CCTV footage of his drunken rampage has failed.Credit:Alexandra Back
In June, Wighton, 25, pleaded guilty in the ACT Magistrates Court to two charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, three counts of common assault, and one charge of public urination.
The Raiders wanted to give him a six-week suspension, but the NRL came over the top and banned him for the final 10 games of the season and fined him $30,000 after seeing the footage.
Raiders chairman Allan Hawke said the penalty was excessive and set an "extraordinary precedent" at the time it was handed down in July.
Wighton's defence lawyer, Jason Moffett, had applied to have the footage suppressed, arguing the fullback was a well known public figure and, therefore, would be subject to significant extra-curial punishment if the footage were to be released.
However, Magistrate Bernadette Boss said it would be "contrary to the interests of justice for a suppression order to be made".
Dr Boss said any person of public interest who comes before the court risks their transgression being amplified in the press, but being highlighted in the media could not displace the need for an open justice system where proceedings are held in and scrutinised in public.
She said a suppression order would offend the fundamental notion that everyone is equal before the law.
Dr Boss said an any extra-curial punishment Wighton suffered could be taken into account at sentencing.
Police facts, tendered in court in June, said the footage showed Wighton had just left a Civic nightclub, about 2.45am on February 3, when he head-butted and punched a man leaning on a shop window.
About 2.55am, a man approaches and shakes Wighton's hand, only for the NRL star to shove and then punch the victim in the face.
The documents said, about 10 minutes later, Wighton is seen to urinate on the road before attacking three men, headbutting and punching them in the head and face.
One victim suffered a laceration to the inside of his mouth, while another had a cut on his head.
Wighton will appear for sentence before the Galambany Court – a specialised court for Aboriginal offenders, within the ACT Magistrates Court – next month.
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