NRL and Brisbane Broncos ‘should be ashamed’ say New York couple whose son was terrorised
MATT Lodge makes his first grade return to the Brisbane Broncos next week and the family whose lives he shattered say it’s a disgrace.
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THE victims of Matthew Lodge’s terrifying New York rampage say the Brisbane Broncos and National Rugby League “should be ashamed” of themselves for letting him back into first grade football.
Speaking for the first time about Lodge’s savage, October 2015, assault, Joseph Cartright and wife Ruth Fowler said the footballer who terrorised them and their young son in their home, did not deserve to be representing a top tier football club where he would be looked up to by other young children.
“He has never apologised, he has shown no remorse and he has not taken any responsibility for what he put us through,” Ms Fowler said.
Mr Cartight was beaten by Lodge when he tried to rescue a young German tourist, Carolyn Dekeyser, outside his Upper West Side apartment. Lodge had followed Ms Dekeyser and a friend, saying he was going to kill them, and Mr Cartright came to their defence when they buzzed to get into his building.
Lodge beat Mr Cartright while Ms Fowler and the couple’s then nine-year-old son Harry cowered in a bathroom as he stormed through their apartment breaking furniture. During the attack, which came as the family was sleeping at 4am, Harry said: “Mum, I’m too young to die”.
“It was terrifying. We were scared for our lives. We are still dealing with it, our son especially,” Ms Fowler, who works in school publishing, said yesterday.
“He came into our apartment in the middle of the night with our son running around and me in bed. You know, this huge man in my bedroom while I was in bed.
“It was absolutely like something out of a horror movie.
“We have had to have family therapy and there are little things like he is still nervous when the doorbell rings. And we have to move from a neighbourhood that we lived in for 20 years.”
Mr Cartight said Harry “just couldn’t live there anymore”.
A New York judge has already ruled Lodge should pay Mr Cartright, a photographer, and his wife almost a million dollars for emotional distress and punitive damages. Judge Kimba Wood said Lodge had terrorised the family as well as Ms Dekeyser, and in March last year
ordered him to pay $US525,000 to Mr Cartright, $US400,000 to Ms Fowler and $US250,000 to Ms Dekeyser.
But Lodge, who escaped jail in the US after agreeing to community service and alcohol treatment in Australia, has so far ignored the lawsuit, not committed to making any payment, and did not engage a lawyer to represent him.
At his criminal trial, Mr Cartright had pleaded for Lodge to be punished for his “violent and horrifying conduct”, but Judge Kate Paek agreed to a plea bargain, which the victims had opposed.
In December 2016, Judge Paek heard Lodge had completed 200 hours of community service in Australia, received alcohol abuse and anger treatment, abstained from alcohol and illegal drugs, and submitted to testing and avoid another arrest.
She sentenced him to conditional discharge that allowed him to avoid a one-year jail term. Lodge was then 21 and remained in Australia for the sentencing.
“We were extremely frustrated with the result of the trial,” Mr Cartright said.
“We didn’t really feel that there was due process. For whatever reason he seemed to have gotten off quite light and I joked to Ruth at one point, I wouldn’t be surprised if the DA put him in the limo to the airport.
“It was quite shocking. We found out that he was going to be released almost two to three days before he was going to be released to go home for Christmas.
“What? How does that happen? But that’s our system.”
At the time of the October 2015 attack, Lodge was a prop for Wests Tigers and was sacked shortly afterwards. He was originally charged with felony burglary causing injury which would have carried a minimum of five and a maximum 25 years jail.
Mr Cartright and his wife Ruth Fowler agreed to be interviewed because they are outraged he is being given another opportunity to play first grade Rugby League.
They said Lodge’s comeback — he was re-registered with the NRL last October and confirmed to be starting with the Broncos next Thursday — was “disgraceful”.
“To some degree we have stayed private because of our child,” Mr Cartright said.
“He seriously has been traumatised by this, he is genuinely, genuinely traumatised, so we felt the best thing to do was to just keep him out of the limelight. We were trying to figure if we can just tamp down this whole event maybe he can get better in the process.
“But we need to weigh that against whether or not someone is taking responsibility for their actions. We can’t also say to Harry, well it’s OK to attack someone, don’t worry about it and just get on with your life.
“The Rugby League should be ashamed. This is an opportunity to set an example of how people should behave. Their brand is represented by the people that play and that’s what they think of their brand? That’s shameful.
“You can’t just walk through life and stomp on people.”
Ms Fowler said she didn’t accept statements by Lodge’s supporters that he had served his time for what he did. Lodge is reportedly now teetotaller.
“It feels like all of what they say he has been through is to get a job again, not to fix what he did wrong,” she said.
“So when they say he’s been through a lot, that’s because he lost his job, because of his actions.”
The family and Ms Dekeyser decided to pursue him in civil court because: “We feel he needs to be responsible for his actions.”
And even though Lodge has not responded to the judgement against him and order to pay damages, their lawyer, Renan Varghese, said yesterday he is still trying to pursue Lodge through Australian courts. In the meantime, he said he had encouraged his clients to speak out against Lodge’s first grade reinstatement.
“We are just disappointed that the Australian Rugby League would sign off on this behaviour
and be accepting of someone who commits this kind of violence against innocent bystanders, and then proceeds to ignore any repercussions,” Mr Varghese said.
“He runs from the United States, he runs back home and then ignores the lawsuit, ignores our attempts to get in touch with him and just sits there and hopes that it goes away.
“That the Rugby Union and the Broncos are helping him do this is very disappointing and they also have to take responsibility.
“If they want to employ him ... we are not trying to stop him from ever playing rugby again, but this idea that something like this can go unpunished is just not acceptable and it’s just not right.”
The Brisbane Broncos have consistently supported Lodge’s right to play.
CEO Paul White said: “As we stated at the time of his signing in November last year, Matt has done a mountain of work to get to a place where he now deserves a second chance.”
“He has satisfied the fit-and-proper person test as set down by the NRL, who have ratified his return to the top level of the game.
“He has been alcohol-free for more than two years, he is completing university study, and he is doing regular work with young men on the dangers of alcohol and taking personal responsibility for their actions.
“Matt has also recently become a father, and is a far more mature and responsible person who has learned from his mistakes, and is truly sorry for what he did.
“The Broncos believe he is now on the right path and will continue to support him in every way going forward.”
This reporter is on twitter: @sarahblakem edia
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