Knights players not given special treatment, court told
A security guard has denied a NSW pub gave special treatment to Newcastle Knights NRL players despite refusing to kick out prop Jacob Saifiti when he was on a drunken bender.
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A security guard has denied a NSW pub gave special treatment to Newcastle Knights NRL players despite refusing to kick out prop Jacob Saifiti when he was on a drunken bender.
Saifiti, 23, was punched in the face by Dane Cordner — the older brother of Australian rugby league captain Boyd — after an altercation outside the Greenroof Hotel in Hamilton in late 2018.
Cordner, of Adamstown, has pleaded not guilty in the Newcastle Local Court to causing reckless grievous bodily harm to Saifiti in December. The 29-year-old claims he was acting in self-defence.
MORE NEWS:
MPs say Labor boss may be finished over $100K in ALDI bag
Chatswood man wins $96m lottery jackpot
Fake food-delivery riders in brazen theft
Security guard Jared Nott told the court on Tuesday that Cordner and Saifiti had been yelling at each other after 2am on December 2 before the Knights prop was knocked to the ground by Cordner. He broke his ankle when falling awkwardly.
Mr Nott — a friend of Cordner’s — said Saifiti pushed past him saying he knew Cordner and wanted to speak to him.
“He’s gone straight to Dane and became immediately aggressive,” Mr Nott told the court.
“Jacob kept heading for Dane and that’s when Dane’s thrown a punch.”
Questioned by defence barrister Jack Tyler-Stott, Mr Nott said he had not seen Saifiti earlier confront another patron who had grabbed the prop by the throat. Mr Nott said he could not recall if Saifiti told the patron: “How tough are you c***? Told you c*** not to f*** with me. Get the f*** up now. Have a go now lad.”
The security guard did not remember Cordner telling Saifiti to “leave it” and later yelling at him to “f*** off and stay away from me”.
Mr Nott could not explain why he’d later put down “unknown” in a security incident report rather than the names of the two men involved given he knew both Cordner and Saifiti.
He denied wanting to protect Saifiti and the pub’s reputation. “The Knights get special treatment there (at the Greenroof) don’t they?” Mr Tyler-Stott asked the security guard.
“No,” he replied.
Mr Nott denied Saifiti — a 195 centimetre-tall Fijian international rugby league player — was protected by hotel security staff.
The court has heard Saifiti did claim he was “protected”.
The hearing, before magistrate Robert Stone, continues.