Sione Hopoate, son of NRL badboy John Hopoate set to plead not guilty to driving charge
The son of former NRL star John Hopoate has been hit with a driving charge after being stopped by cops early on a Sunday morning.
Manly
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The son of an infamous NRL badboy will plead not guilty to a driving charge.
Sione Mau John Junior Hopoate — whose father John Hopoate played for Australia, NSW, the Sea Eagles and West Tigers — is facing a charge of driving a vehicle while his licence was suspended.
In documents tendered to Manly Local Court on Wednesday, police alleged that Hopoate Junior, 23, was behind the wheel of a car pulled over at 3.45am on a Sunday morning in November last year.
After a police check on his licence status, it was found that he was allegedly driving on a suspended licence.
Hopoate Junior is a talented rugby league player who played representative junior football with the Manly Sea Eagles. He also played in the centres for the NSW under 16s representative team and is now signed with the North Sydney Bears.
In an email to the Registry at Manly Court House sent on Tuesday, February 1, the accused’s legal representatives, Abbas Jacobs Lawyers, indicated that Hopoate Junior woild plead not guilty to the charge.
The matter was meant to be heard before Magistrate Robyn Denes on Wednesday, but Hopate Junior was not in court.
On Wednesday morning, his lawyers emailed the court registry, asking that the matter be adjourned because “there was an error in the instructions given” in relation to a request for an adjournment date.
The lawyers wrote that they needed time to “rectify the issue”.
Ms Denes adjourned the matter to February 16 and asked that a plea be formally entered on that date.
She continued Hopoate Junior’s bail.
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