Terrigal Trojans rugby player Elekana ‘Eddie’ Laupola convicted of one count of domestic violence

A jury overwhelmingly rejected the evidence of a woman who claimed she was repeatedly choked by her then boyfriend. But his thumbprint on a knife was enough to convict him, a court heard.

Terrigal Trojans player Elekana Laupola was cleared of the majority of DV allegations against him but convicted on one count of using a knife to threaten his then partner. (AAP IMAGE / Troy Snook)

Terrigal Trojans rugby player Elekana “Eddie” Laupola was found not guilty of eight counts of domestic violence against his former partner after a jury found the victim’s evidence was unreliable.

However the then 29-year-old’s thumbprint on the blade of a knife seized by police in her bedroom was enough to convince the jury beyond reasonable doubt Laupola was guilty of one last count of using an offensive weapon to threaten her life.

Laupola faced a seven-day trial at Gosford District Court earlier this month after being charged with nine alleged offences including two counts of intentionally choking his former partner, assaulting her, pulling her finger until it broke and aggravated breaking and entering her Berkeley Vale address over a two-week period in 2023.

The now 31-year-old was found not guilty of eight charges but guilty of one count of using a knife to threaten to kill her.

The court heard the jury overwhelmingly rejected the majority of the victim’s evidence but convicted Laupola after police were called to the woman’s house in October 2023 and seized a knife in her bedroom.

Laupola was sentenced in Gosford District Court on Thursday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Swift

When questioned by police at the time, Laupola said he didn’t threaten her with a knife, he never touched any of her cutlery and didn’t even know the knife was there.

However Judge David Wilson said “plainly these representations made to police were lies” after Laupola’s thumbprint was later found on the blade.

Laupola has told a court he wants to get back in the gym and return to rugby. (AAP IMAGE / Troy Snook)

Laupola was remanded into custody after his arrest in 2023 and only released on bail earlier this month when the jury returned its verdict.

The court heard the rugby player had spent 649 days in jail.

Laupola was sentenced at Gosford District Court on Thursday where both his barrister and the Crown conceded the amount of time he had already served in custody would dwarf any imposed by the court following his guilty finding.

But in a shock twist two character references tendered from Laupola’s friends were hastily withdrawn by his defence after they were found to have been written using artificial intelligence.

Judge Wilson said an AI checking tool found one reference had a 100 per cent chance of being written by AI while the other had a 93 per cent chance.

Judge Wilson said the credibility of the references were “very much damaged” and cautioned all parties against using AI to produce documents to be relied upon in court.

He convicted Laupola of the one count of using an offensive weapon but with no further penalty.