Civil-suit lawyers say video reveals Matt Lodge had a ‘complete lack of remorse’ over New York assaults
US lawyers representing the victims of NRL player Matt Lodge have seized on video of him partying with friends immediately after pleading guilty to a violent New York assault.
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THE US legal team representing the victims of disgraced NRL player Matt Lodge has seized on video footage of the prop receiving a hero’s welcome home from his mates immediately after pleading guilty to a violent New York assault.
Lodge is now being sued by his victims in a civil suit believed to be worth $US1 million, after pleading guilty to reckless assault where he stalked and threatened to kill two women on the streets of Manhattan and punched a man who tried to help them.
The video footage — believed to have been filmed within two days of Lodge pleading guilty to the horror assaults — shows the football player excitedly bursting out of a cupboard to cheers and backslapping from his mates. The caption beneath the video, in which Lodge’s mates chant a modified Christmas carol reads: “good to have a brother home #reunited”.
The lawyers say the upbeat footage reveals a “complete lack of remorse” from Lodge, who has yet to respond to his victims’ civil case.
“The plaintiffs’ lawyers view this video as direct evidence that he has no remorse, that (the criminal case) was a slap on the wrist and he thinks he has no accountability here,” lawyer Jeanne Christensen said.
“It shows a complete failure to take responsibility for his actions. He was supposed to be on his way to rehab and prior to going it’s like he’s trying to cram as much partying in as he can.”
Lodge has missed the legal deadline for responding to the civil case, which was set in January.
It was October last year when Lodge was accused of stalking two women from a nightclub and threatening to kill them.
A good samaritan tried to help the women, when Lodge punched the man, locked him out of his apartment and locked himself inside with the man’s wife and child.
He then hid in a cupboard and threw a bottle of wine at police when they arrived.
Lodge pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of reckless assault in a fast-tracked hearing just days before Christmas, and was rushed home to Sydney time for Christmas with his family.
Under the plea deal, Lodge was required to abstain from drugs and alcohol, attend a 28-day inpatient rehab facility, do community service at a soup kitchen and receive one year of clinical psychology treatment.
The victims’ lawyers are preparing to file a request for a Manhattan judge to award damages without the footballer’s response.
Lodge’s plea deal in the criminal case — which will allow him to be sentenced via Skype later this year — required him to spend 28 days at an inpatient clinic, and spend one year with the services of a clinical psychologist.
If he fails to abide by these conditions, the state of New York will ask for a one-year jail term.
News Corp requested comment from both Lodge’s US and Australian legal teams, but both said they no longer represented him.
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