Wests Tigers player Josh Reynolds in court on domestic assault charge
Wests Tigers player Josh Reynolds has denied assaulting his partner, causing significant bruising and will fight the charges in court.
St George Shire Standard
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NRL player Josh Reynolds has denied assaulting his partner, causing significant bruising and will fight the charges in court.
The 30-year-old Wests Tigers player showed no emotion at Sutherland Local Court as his solicitor Dan McGurr entered not guilty pleas to assault causing actual bodily harm and an apprehended domestic violence order to protect his former partner Arabella Del Busso.
“We’re tendering expert evidence on our side and at least three witnesses,” Mr McGurr told the court.
“We’re talking to experts on bruising, about what medication the alleged victim was on and witnesses for credibility.”
Ms Del Busso told St George police she suffered bruising after she was allegedly assaulted by Reynolds.
“There will be a lot of subpoenaed material including evidence from Centrelink and Medicare in relation to medical history,” Mr McGurr told the court.
Magistrate Sharon Freund denied Reynolds’ application to dispense with his police bail, which requires him to abide by the conditions of an interim apprehended violence order to protect his former partner.
Reynolds will return to court to fight the charges over two days in the second half of 2020.
The assault allegedly occurred in the evening of September 12 at Reynolds’ Caringbah South home.
A police bail document confirms Reynolds has no criminal history.
“It is unlikely a custodial sentence would be imposed for this matter,” police stated.
“There is a bail concern that the accused person will endanger the safety of victims, individuals or the community.”
Reynolds faced court today exactly one week after he was charged with assault causing actual bodily harm over an alleged attack on Ms Del Busso.
The Wests Tigers made a brief statement confirming Reynolds had been charged with an domestic violence offence.
“Both Josh and Wests Tigers have previously alerted the police and NRL on this matter and will continue to work closely with the NRL Integrity Unit and NSW Police as Josh vigorously defends this charge,” the club stated.
“As this is an ongoing legal matter, Wests Tigers will be making no further comment at this time.”
It is unclear whether Reynolds will fall foul of the NRL’s no fault stand down policy, where CEO Todd Greenberg can use discretion to suspend players charged with criminal offences.
The automatic stand-down rule is triggered by charges which attract maximum jail terms of 11 years, and assault causing actual bodily harm has a maximum penalty of five years in NSW.
However, Mr Greenberg previously stood down the Manly Sea Eagles’ Dylan Walker during court proceedings over domestic violence allegations, and the Penrith Panthers’ Tyrone May who has since pleaded guilty to recording sexual encounters without his partners’ consent.
St George Illawarra player Jack de Belin dropped a dogged appeal against the rule after he was stood down when Wollongong police laid several aggravated sexual assault charges against him related to an alleged incident in December 2018.