Lopeti Timani fined $16,000 in France after hitting bouncer in the face with a bottle
Australian professional rugby union footballer Lopeti Timani has faced the music in a French court over a nightclub brawl.
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Australian international Lopeti Timani has been fined $16,000 in France for throwing a bottle at a nightclub bouncer’s face.
The Rochelle Criminal Court, five hours south west of Paris, handed down the fine this week.
He was charged after a brawl erupted at The White Rabbit nightclub at 4.30am on May 12, 2019.
Timani, who plays for La Rochelle in the French league, was kicked out of the nightclub.
But he resisted being removed and threw a bottle in the face of one of the bouncers.
Timani told the court: “I’m sorry I threw the bottle away, I didn’t mean to hurt anyone, I didn’t aim, it was over my shoulder.”
The guards punched him several times after he threw the bottle and they were also charged.
According to France Bleu, Margaux Mathieu, a lawyer for Timani, pleaded for a light sentence.
“Lopeti, he’s the friend she said a little bit stupid that you can’t stand in the evening when he drinks too much. But does that deserve a condemnation?,” according to a translation.
Timani was fined $A16,000, or 10,000 euros, which would be reduced by 20 per cent if he paid within 30 days.
It is not the first time Timani has been in court on an assault matter.
However, in 2018, he was the victim of an assault by teammate Amanaki Mafi after a Melbourne Rebels match in New Zealand.
The pair had been drinking after the Rebels lost to the Highlanders, with the fight happening the next morning.
Tifi, according to rugby.com.au, had objected to Timani’s language and challenged him to a fight.
Mafi was ordered to pay Timani $50,000 for repeatedly punching him in the head, according to the Otago Daily Times.
Originally published as Lopeti Timani fined $16,000 in France after hitting bouncer in the face with a bottle