Assault charges against NBL star Mitch Creek dropped

Star basketballer Mitch Creek was facing charges of assaulting a woman – until a shock new development in the case on Wednesday.

Assault charges against NBL star Mitch Creek have been dropped. Picture: Martin Keep/Getty Images

Charges have been withdrawn against star NBL basketballer Mitch Creek, clearing the way for him to potentially represent Australia at the Tokyo Olympics.

Wearing a white shirt and sitting beside two lawyers, Mr Creek appeared emotional and to be holding back tears on the audiovisual link over which he appeared in the Sunshine Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

The court was told police were withdrawing all charges against the 28-year-old.

They had previously alleged he had assaulted a woman in November last year.

But those allegations will not proceed after the charges were struck out on Wednesday.

He had been hit with 11 charges relating to November 22, 2020, including that he took a photo or video of a woman’s private parts without her consent and injured her.

He was charged with “visually capturing the victim’s (private parts) in circumstances where it would be reasonable for the victim to expect that (they) could not be captured”, two counts of recklessly cause injury, one count of intentionally cause injury, one count of cause injury, and six counts of unlawful assault.

South East Melbourne Phoenix star Mitch Creek was initially stood down after the charges were laid before being reinstated. Picture: Martin Keep/Getty Images

But all of these charges have been withdrawn.

Mr Creek’s chances of representing Australia at the Tokyo Olympics were in grave doubt after the charges were laid.

Under Australian Olympic Committee policy he would be ineligible to be a member of the Australian Boomers Olympic team after being charged with a violent offence.

The star forward has played in the US NBA, joining the Brooklyn Nets and the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 2018-19 season.

He was born in Horsham in country Victoria and played for the Adelaide 36ers from 2010 to 2018 before spending the ’18-19 season in the United States.

Since 2019 he has played for the South East Melbourne Phoenix, where he was captain until stripped of that role following the assault charges being laid.

The NBL stood him down after mutual agreement with Creek after charges were laid, but this was challenged by Creek’s lawyers, resulting in him being reinstated as a player.

The Phoenix lost sponsorship following Creek’s alleged assault charges. It remains to be seen whether the sponsorship will return now that Creek’s charges have been withdrawn.

A Basketball Australia spokeswoman said the organisation’s integrity unit would continue reviewing the matter.

“Basketball Australia is aware that the charges levelled against Mitch Creek have been withdrawn,” she said.

“The Basketball Australia Integrity Unit will review the matter to determine if any further action is required.”

Originally published as Assault charges against NBL star Mitch Creek dropped