George Burgess destroyed truckie’s phone during Wollongong road rage incident

He’s known for smashing opponents on the footy field, but George Burgess smashed up a truck driver’s phone after he took exception to a video he’d recorded.

St George Illawarra Dragons recruit and younger brother of Sam Burgess escaped without a conviction after confessing to reaching into a cement truck and throwing the driver’s phone during a road rage incident.

George Burgess appeared at Wollongong Local Court on Tuesday where he pleaded guilty to one count of malicious damage relating to a road rage incident in Wollongong on August 23.

During the argument, Burgess grabbed the victim’s phone and threw it on the road.

George Burgess and lawyer Bryan Wrench leaving Wollongong Local Court on Tuesday. Picture: Lauren Ferri

The incident was reported to Wollongong police and Burgess was charged with malicious damage the following day.

Defence lawyer Bryan Wrench on Tuesday told the court the 29-year-old had been stuck in “banked up traffic” on Denison St driving a Jeep Grand Cherokee registered to the St George Illawarra football club, according to court documents.

A cement truck driver got out of the vehicle and walked alongside Burgess, attempting to film him on his phone.

“The driver ran out of the car with the phone and started walking and recording Mr Burgess for 10 to 15 metres and waits there to record him for a period of time,” Mr Wrench said.

According to court documents, Burgess asked what “the problem” was and the victim said “there’s no problem, keep doing what you’re doing”.

George Burgess confessed to blowing up at a truckie in Wollongong. Picture: Lauren Ferri

Mr Wrench told the court Burgess was not driving erratically as he was in slow traffic travelling to a nearby pharmacy to purchase painkillers.

The driver claims the football player had been using his phone while driving but Mr Wrench said his client was using it as a GPS.

According to court documents, Burgess asked the driver if he was the police and said to delete the footage.

The driver said “if it is, would it matter?” and returned to his car as Burgess followed, the court heard.

Burgess reached into the truck, grabbed the man’s phone and threw it onto the street damaging it beyond repair.

“It’s very unusual for someone to walk out and film for such a long period of time, if it were an ordinary citizen you would see it as stalking behaviour,” Mr Wrench said.

The court heard Burgess was regretful for his actions, apologised to the victim and paid compensation for the phone.

George Burgess declined questions from the media outside court. Picture: Lauren Ferri

Mr Wrench said coming to court was a “painful reminder” of what Burgess had done.

“He should have let it go and he shouldn’t have thrown the phone … he took it as an invasion of privacy,” Mr Wrench said.

Magistrate Chris McRobert said Burgess shouldn’t have reacted if he had not been on his phone while driving.

“I take the view if you were breaking the law it would go to police, if you weren’t you had nothing to fear,” Magistrate McRobert said.

“The subsequent actions were not justified, you had no right to do what you did.”

Magistrate McRobert noted Burgess’s lack of criminal record, his publicity and the fact he is currently recovering from injuries,

Burgess was sentenced to a conditional release order without a conviction, meaning he must remain of good behaviour for 12 months.

“Stop and think before you behave inappropriately in the future,” Magistrate McRobert told the football player.

Burgess declined to answer questions from the media when leaving court.