Dane Cordner overcome with emotion telling court he feared Jacob Saifiti before punching him
An emotional Dane Cordner — older brother of NRL star Boyd — broke down in court while explaining he feared drunken Newcastle Knights player Jacob Saifiti, before he punched the prop in the face outside a pub.
NSW
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An emotional Dane Cordner — older brother of NRL star Boyd — broke down in court on Wednesday while explaining he feared drunken Newcastle Knights player Jacob Saifiti, before he punched the prop in the face outside a pub.
Cordner (pictured), a 29-year-old coal miner, told Newcastle Local Court he yelled at an aggressive Saifiti to stay away from him after a heated exchange in December 2018. When he turned around, the 195cm-tall Fijian international player was right in front of him.
“I was scared. I had to do it (punch Saifiti). I was scared,” Cordner said. “I f**king just instinctively pushed and hit him.”
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Cordner, of Adamstown, has pleaded not guilty to causing reckless grievous bodily harm to Saifiti after 2am on December 2 outside the Greenroof Hotel in Hamilton. Saifiti fell awkwardly after being punched and broke his ankle. Cordner claims he was acting in self-defence.
Cordner said that earlier that night he tried to get 23-year-old Saifiti to leave the pub because he was drunk.
Cordner — who’d had eight schooners and six vodkas — said if his high-profile brother had been in the same situation as Saifiti he’d have wanted someone to tell him it was time to go home.
But he claimed Saifiti waved him away, telling him: “Don’t worry about me lad. I’m protected here.”
Cordner told the court he had seen Saifiti grab another patron by the scruff of the neck in the pokies room but nothing had happened to the Knights prop.
Hotel staff have denied Knights players were given preferential treatment.
Cordner told the court that Saifiti had been coming towards him outside the pub yelling: “Come on Cordner … have a go now.” He said he told Saifiti to stay away from him, but turned around to find the Knights prop was right in front of him.
Cordner denied punching Saifiti as payback for a 2016 incident when he claimed the Knights player attacked him, punching him in the face and slamming him into a street sign. The alleged attack was never reported to the police.
Cordner said he was not looking for a fight on December 2 and only wanted to get away from Saifiti.
Greenroof Hotel licensee Angus Harper had earlier told the court he could not explain how 10 seconds of CCTV footage from the pokies room that night was missing. Mr McIntyre told the court he had not shown the CCTV footage to anyone but police.
The hearing continues.