Matthew Lodge’s victim’s lawyer appalled by chairman Peter Beattie’s defence of the Bronco
NRL Commission chair Peter Beattie has defended Matthew Lodge’s inflammatory response to his victim Charlene Saliba as the footballer’s right to reply to her story.
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NRL Commission chair Peter Beattie has defended Matthew Lodge’s inflammatory response to his victim Charlene Saliba as the footballer’s right to reply to her story.
Lodge, who again stated he had never hit a woman, has allegedly leaked confidential text messages and legal documents to the media that re-traumatised Saliba.
“I have read all that, one of the great criticisms of him, if you want to be blunt about this, is that he didn’t in fact go out and explain enough about what he had done,” Beattie said. “When he does try and explain, when a front-page story in The Courier Mail (and The Sunday Telegraph) attacks him for a whole lot of things I think he is obligated to defend himself, he is obligated to explain what he did. Because if he doesn’t then the allegation against him, about domestic violence, stands against him unchallenged.”
Lodge pleaded guilty to common assault (domestic violence) in 2016 and a witness, grandmother Lyn Walker, saw the Brisbane Broncos forward hit Saliba.
The NRL had never interviewed Saliba or the witness to her assault, Walker, when making the decision to reinstate Lodge to the game.
Saliba stands by her original police statement that Lodge hit her.
Saliba’s lawyer, George Newhouse, is “appalled” by Beattie’s words and noted his client only came forward with her story of abuse at the hands of Lodge to set the record straight.
“I am appalled by Peter Beattie’s comments,” Newhouse said.
“How can he twist this situation to make Matt Lodge a victim. Lodge is not responding to an attack by Ms Saliba. Ms Saliba responded when Mr Lodge denied that he had ever hit a woman.”
Beattie also said he felt sympathy for Saliba over her experience with Lodge, in which she endured a cycle of emotional and physical abuse.
“This was never going to be a popular decision,” Beattie said. “I must admit I felt incredibly sorry for the woman concerned and I feel sorry for the victims in New York, and none of this mitigates against in anyway anything they have said or done.
“But we have to find a way to move on here.”
The strong public backlash over the NRL’s decision to allow Lodge back in the game has forced league boss Todd Greenberg to urge the Broncos forward to pay the victims of his New York rampage the $1.6 million ordered in a US civil lawsuit.
Last month when it emerged that Lodge had never attempted to begin paying what was owed to victims, Greenberg stated: “That’s not a matter for us to get involved in. We’re not in the business of telling people and players how to spend their money. That’s up to them.”
Yesterday is was a different story.
“We’re in dialogue with his agent and with his club and there is a strong desire to come up with a payment plan,” Greenberg said.
Beattie said the NRL Commission had met yesterday and unanimously backed Greenberg’s decision to allow Lodge back in the game.