NRL star Brett Finch seeks bail change

Embattled NRL star Brett Finch has faced a Sydney court for the first time since he was charged over his involvement in a ‘child abuse chat line’.

Former NRL star Brett Finch outside Sutherland Local Court in southern Sydney on Thursday. Picture: Liam Mendes

Embattled NRL star Brett Finch has faced a Sydney court for the first time since he was charged over his involvement in a “child abuse chat line”.

Finch appeared at Sutherland Local Court in a bid to amend his strict bail conditions to allow him to have greater access to the internet, including to order Uber Eats and watch streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime, after he was arrested at his home in Sydney’s south on Tuesday morning.

The court heard police will allege Finch used a “social platform” over an 11 week period in November 2020 to January 2021 to commit his offending.

The 40-year-old was charged with five counts of use carriage service to transmit or publish or promote child abuse.

When initially released on bail Finch was banned from living at an address connected to the internet, banned from accessing any social networks, and not allowed to possess a mobile phone capable of accessing the internet.

On Thursday the court heard how Finch’s bail conditions were so strict not even his wife could use a phone to order him food.
Finch’s lawyer Paul McGirr also told the court Finch would be staying at home “for a great deal of time” due to the media presence outside his home.

“In this day and age, Your Honour, to suggest that he can’t in any way access the internet, that’s just not how society works these days,” Mr McGirr said.

Embattled NRL star Brett Finch faced a Sydney court for the first time since on Thursday after he was charged over his alleged involvement in a “child abuse chat line”.

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Mr McGirr pointed to the fact that police did not seize Finch’s laptop upon his arrest.

“The last alleged offending of this particular matter was in January this year, and there’s been nothing that’s brought him onto the radar since January,” Mr McGirr said.

A police prosecutor opposed the application, fearing the “commission of further serious offences” if he was given access to the internet.

“It is in my submission the court would have some significant concern about unsupervised access to sites or to platforms,” the prosecutor told the court.

Despite this, magistrate Brett Thomas granted Finch permission to access the internet only to access government websites, his bank, contacting his lawyer or a medical professional, and to access online news, food delivery services and some streaming services.

While Finch’s lawyer requested he be permitted access to any online streaming service, Mr Thomas limited Finch to just Netflix, Amazon Prime, Stan and Foxtel.

“It’s limited to those ones because otherwise it creates a potential problem,” Mr Thomas said.

Finch cracked a smile when his lawyer said even he “can’t afford” a subscription to all of the streaming services he was granted access to.

He is also only required to report weekly to police, instead of three times a week, and is still prohibited from remaining in the company of or communicating with any child under the age of 16, except for immediate family, where he must be supervised by an adult.

The court also heard how Finch has also “turned his house upside down” in order to find his passport – which he was required to hand in – but believes he has lost it.

Outside court Finch did not reply when questioned about the allegations. His lawyer said he was still defending the charges.

“He’s terribly stressed and distraught,” Mr McGill said.

The matter will return to court on February 24 next year.