‘It makes me angry’: Ricky Stuart reveals the torment it has done to his Raiders star Curtis Scott
Rugby league boss Peter V’landys has described Curtis Scott’s Australia Day arrest as ‘very disturbing’, as Raiders coach Ricky Stuart hit out at the police treatment of his young star.
NRL
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ARLC chairman Peter V’landys has weighed in on Curtis Scott’s Australia Day arrest, labelling it “very disturbing”.
“Let me preface it by saying the police do a magnificent job and 99 per cent of the time they are very professional,’’ V’landys told 2GB.
“But in this case, it was very disturbing.
“What happened to him shouldn’t happen to any citizen.
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“However, from our perspective at the NRL, he should not have placed himself in that position in the first place.
“He should not have been intoxicated in a park. I keep repeating it, our players are role models and as role models you dont get yourself intoxicated to a point where you fall asleep in the middle of a park.”
Meanwhile, a furious Ricky Stuart revealed he was “sick in the stomach and heartbroken” when he viewed the disturbing footage of Scott’s shameful Australia Day arrest.
“If that was my son God help what I would do,” a clearly upset Stuart told News Corp on Thursday night, moments after he viewed the footage for the first time.
“It is a disgrace how he has been treated.
“I am still disappointed that he got himself so drunk to be in that situation, but no one deserves that treatment.
“It makes me angry.”
Stuart’s comments came after Scott, 22, had police charges against him sensationally dropped after the dramatic footage of him being doused with capsicum spray and tasered while handcuffed was played to the court.
Magistrate Jennifer Giles said she did not have the “stomach” to watch the third instance of Scott being tasered after two separate videos had been played.
She accepted Scott’s guilty plea for other minor related charges but did not record a conviction.
Scott is now seeking more than $100,000 to pay for the costs of his nine-month battle.
But the impact on his life goes way beyond what happened on the night with Stuart also revealing how it has also impacted his football and his day-to-day mental well-being.
Scott had only just joined Canberra from Melbourne when he went for the Australia Day weekend in Sydney with some of his new teammates.
To the club’s credit, Stuart and chief executive Don Furner supported Scott throughout the ordeal.
But Stuart does not hide from the fact Scott would have been sacked if found guilty of assaulting a police officer.
“I asked Curtis from day one, ‘mate, please don’t lie to me and we will support you’,” Stuart said.
“And he hasn’t lied to me once. It’s a credit to the bloke’s character.
“It has been very hard for me to comment previously because I haven’t seen the video until now.
“But I have had a lot of conversations with Curtis.
“His form has not been where Curtis has been in previous seasons, and I can now understand why in regards to the stress and the embarrassment that he has been carrying through the public scrutiny he has been copping.
“We have supported Curtis here but he also knew the club was going to sack him if he had assaulted a police officer.
“I told him that from the start.
“Now seeing the footage I can understand why Curtis has been a shadow of himself over the last six months.”
Scott said he knew if he was found guilty his career was over.
“I put my whole career on the line to clear my name and that was a risk I was willing to take,” Scott told 7 News.
“Everybody on your back, making out that you’re some monster, a cop basher. In the back of my mind, I knew if one of these charges stuck I’d be digging holes for the rest of my life.
“In myself I’m bitter, I’m bitter that everyone kind of just took their side and did not consider my side of the story.
“I know there’s plenty of good police officers out there and they have the toughest job in the world.
“I’m not going to be anti police or anything like that.”
Originally published as ‘It makes me angry’: Ricky Stuart reveals the torment it has done to his Raiders star Curtis Scott