Jack de Belin, St George Illawarra Dragons: NRL star has court date set
There has been a development in the sexual assault case of benched Dragons star Jack de Belin and that of his co-accused Callan Sinclair, with a date finally set to hand down the decision on pre-trial argument.
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A decision in benched Dragons star Jack de Belin’s pre-trial legal argument is set to be handed down in less than a month, after weeks of continued arguments.
The 29-year-old faced Wollongong District court with co-accused Callan Sinclair on Friday, where Judge Andrew Haesler announced he would hand down his decision in the pre-trial case on August 28.
The pair have faced court several times in February, after the start of the trial was postponed due to complex arguments, the nature of which cannot be revealed.
De Belin and Sinclair have each pleaded not guilty to five charges of aggravated sexual assault, after they were accused of sexually assaulting a 19-year-old woman at Wollongong apartment in December 2018 following a popular pub crawl.
The trial was due to begin in February however was halted due to complications which took longer than first anticipated to discuss.
The submissions finally concluded after several adjournments on Friday, with Judge Haesler reserving his decision for a month.
In the meantime, de Belin and Sinclair’s joint trial has been scheduled for three weeks in November.
De Belin was first charged in 2018, and became the first player to be sidelined under the NRL’s no-fault stand down policy, which allows the game to stand aside players facing serious criminal charges.
Under the policy, De Belin has been banned from playing any games until the matter has been through the court system.
If the trial does not proceed until the expected date in November, de Belin will have been sidelined for two consecutive seasons, with his Dragons contract due to expire at the end of this year.
While the Origin star hasn’t been able to play for more than a year, he has still been able to train with the team and has been receiving his full $500,000+ yearly pay cheque.