The Snitch: NRL star avoids domestic violence probe

Why is an NRL star avoiding scrutiny over domestic violence allegations? Which barrister is a victim of their own success? And who was building a dirt file on a Sydney drug boss? The Snitch is here.

The NRL star caught up in a revenge porn case is likely to escape scrutiny after evidence emerged in the case revealing that he allegedly committed horrific acts of domestic violence against his new partner.

The NRL Integrity Commission is not investigating the player – over the allegations that included assaulting his wife in front of his young child – preferring to leave any inquiry into the allegations to police.

But it is unclear if that is occurring given that it would require the woman to report the allegations to police.

And given the player is not facing charges, it can be assumed that she hasn’t given that the alleged incidents occurred in 2022 or earlier.

The woman and her lawyer Christopher Cole. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Nikki Short

The player’s ex was found guilty of intentionally distributing an intimate image without his consent in the Downing Centre Local Court on Friday.

Neither the player or the woman, or their children, can be identified because of court orders.

But the woman was charged after the children she had with the player stumbled upon a shared folder on their iPad that featured videos and images of him having sex with his new partner.

There were two friends of the children at the home for a sleepover who saw the pornographic material and the woman was charged after she sent samples of the material to their mother in an effort to apologise and explain.

The contents of the porn folder on the iPad and text messages on the device were evidence in the case.

The text messages revealed disturbing allegations of domestic violence by the NRL star on his new partner.

One text message showed the new partner accusing the player of assaulting her in front of his young child, which she wrote was “unforgivable”.

The woman also told the player “you’re a controller” and told him to leave and not come back.

VICTORY VICTIM

Barrister Sally Orman-Hales is paying a price for her success.

She has been the defence counsel on two of the recent high-profile rape cases where the presiding judges have torn into the state’s chief prosecutor, Sally Dowling SC, for running trials that are doomed to fail.

And while it sounds like the sort of emphatic DPP-destroying legal victory that a barrister would put at the top of their resume, the fact is that most lawyers hate doing sexual assault trials because of their harrowing nature.

Ms Orman-Hales did not return Snitch’s calls on whether she fits into this category.

But a fellow member of the legal fraternity told us that she does.

Barrister Sally Orman-Hales.

“She’s had them (rape trials) back to back to back,” one lawyer told us. “I’m pretty sure that she’d prefer to be doing something else, but she can probably expect a few more given the recent results.”

The most recent case saw a Rozelle man acquitted of rape before Judge Peter Whitford SC awarded the man costs last month and attacked the Judgement of Ms Dowling’s office in electing which cases to prosecute.

Judge Whitford told the court it appeared that Ms Dowling’s office was “far too frequently” abandoning its own guidelines to examine the merits of a case before making the decision to prosecute.

The second was the case of Martinez (who was also acquitted of rape) where Judge Robert Newlinds SC awarded the man costs and told the court there appeared to be “some sort of unwritten policy or expectation” within Ms Dowling’s office where cases were being prosecuted without “a sensible and rational interrogation” of the evidence.

Ms Dowling has strongly refuted the critiques made by the judges.

She fronted a budget estimates hearing this week where she announced an audit of matters committed for trial to ensure that guidelines were being followed.

SECRET SUBPOENAS

Alen Moradian. Picture: Supplied

The man accused of ordering the assassination of his former friend, and Sydney drug boss, Alen Moradian is alleged to be one of the most calculating men in the Sydney underworld.

And court documents from the Moradian murder case have showcased the way police say his mind works.

The man cannot legally be named, but the documents showed police allege he began collecting a dirt file on Moradian back in 2011 after becoming suspicious about who the drug boss was hanging out with.

The man was on trial for another matter and police allege he told a friend that he used the case as a vehicle to subpoena Moradian’s prison record to see who he was associating with behind bars.

“You know I had a thing…,” the man allegedly said. “I kept it from everyone. I just kept it … I let him know I had it (and) I kept it as a trump card …”

The context is unclear but it appears the man seemed to think it showed Moradian had lied to him.

“He said on it he was on escort once to Parklea when ‘Shit-stains’ and that they were all over there,” the man allegedly said. “He said ‘I can’t go to Parklea (because) I’ve got associations with the Rebels’ and I think ‘You’re not even a Rebel ya f-king weak dog weak c-t’.”

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