Retired Olympic basketball player Daniel Frank Morseu pleads not guilty in Cairns District Court over incident on Thursday Island

Australian basketball senior statesman Danny Morseu denied hitting a woman at the end of a night out drinking when police went to his home after an alarmed neighbour reported a woman screaming, Cairns District Court heard on Tuesday.

Daniel Frank Morseu, 66, pleaded not guilty to assault, assault occasioning bodily harm, and deprivation of liberty arising from an alleged incident at his home on June 17 and 18, 2022.

A high profile Indigenous basketball figure denied hitting a woman when they returned home after a night out when interviewed by one of two police officers who responded to a neighbour’s call that there was a woman screaming, Cairns District Court heard on Tuesday.

The trial of two-time Olympic basketballer Danny Morseu, 66, who has pleaded not guilty to assault, assault occasioning bodily harm, and deprivation of liberty arising from an alleged incident at his Thursday Island home on June 17 and 18, 2022, began on Monday morning.

The court was closed Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning with the complainant on the stand for about five hours, including cross-examination by Mr Morseu’s legal counsel, barrister Douglas Wilson.

The jury was played a video of Sergeant John Flanagan’s bodyworn camera, when he interviewed Mr Morseu, who sat at the dining table and appeared relaxed and calm, wearing a Deadly Choices T-shirt and khaki shorts, with a basketball match playing on TV in the background.

Two time Olympic basketballer Daniel Frank Morseu leaves Cairns District Court on May 13, having pleaded not guilty to three charges arising from an alleged incident on Thursday Island in June 2022. Picture: Supplied

Sergeant Flanagan gave evidence there was a spot of blood on the lounge room floor, and the house was clean and orderly with the exception of the complainant’s room, which was in complete disarray

Mr Morseu said in the video there had been a “ruckus” at the bowls club and he urged the woman to exit quietly and walk home with him.

Mr Morseu said he did not strike the woman and she may have injured herself in the bathroom.

The court heard the woman had a two to three centimetre laceration above her left brow, which required stitches.

“I’ve had beautiful women in my life, I have never experienced anything like this,” Mr Morseu said.

“She hit me a few times in the face … we’d been drinking all evening.

“Tonight was just crazy, some shit happened down there at the bowls club. I never hit her, I see the blood, I never physically hit her,” he told Sergeant Flanagan.

“I got no idea, I don’t know what happened, she went into the bathroom, she must have done something to her face – I don’t need this shit in my life, nobody does, I am sad and depressed that this could happen to me, to be honest.,” Mr Morseu said.

He said he had to pull the woman away from a scuffle at the bowls club and that he told her “you don’t know these people up here, the women might attack you”.

Cairns District Court heard Olympian Danny Morseu returned to live on Thursday Island five or six years ago.

“I never touched her, I never touched her at all.”

Crown prosecutor Tim Watkins earlier told the jury Mr Morseu prevented the woman from leaving, pushed her onto the couch, and punched her in the head and face multiple times.

Neighbour Caroline Greta Lala O’Cloudy told the court she heard a female screaming for about 15 minutes, saying, “I need help, someone help me, please help me, get away from me, leave me alone” and she called Policelink.

Dr Adam Holyoak gave evidence he saw the woman a couple of days later and referred her for CAT scans to check for a more serious head injury that was not immediately evident.

He said she had bruising to the left side of her head, a tender jaw, pain in the left side of her neck and “two very obvious big black eyes”.

Mr Morseu represented Australia in basketball at the 1980 Moscow Olympics and the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

The trial before Judge Dean Morzone KC continues.

Originally published as Retired Olympic basketball player Daniel Frank Morseu pleads not guilty in Cairns District Court over incident on Thursday Island