Regional Queensland rugby league player stood down following sexual assault conviction

A regional Queensland football player who has been stood down for sexual assault has secret charges before the courts that he’s attempting to deal with out of the public eye.

Darry Erepia is currently registered with the Warwick Cowboys, he has appeared in court twice in the past two years on serious charges and is currently dealing with a third lot of criminal charges outside of court.

The future sporting career of a regional Queensland rugby league player is in doubt after the Warwick Cowboys player was convicted of sexual assault.

Dual-code football player Darryl Augustine Erepia, who began his sporting career in Toowoomba on the Darling Downs, was sentenced to a suspended jail term in March after he pleaded guilty to sexual assault.

The court heard his guilty plea came after his lawyers made a deal with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to drop “a much more serious charge”.

However, the 23-year-old remains on bail conditions for an unrelated criminal matter that he is attempting to settle outside of the courts.

Darry Erepia is currently registered with the Warwick Cowboys, he has appeared in court twice in the last two years on serious charges and is currently dealing with a third lot of criminal charges outside of court.

In August 2023, the former USQ Saints rugby union player was acquitted of assault causing grievous bodily harm following a three-day trial before the Toowoomba District Court.

The court heard Erepia was celebrating a team member’s birthday when he participated in a consensual fight that left a man in a coma with serious head injuries after being tackled on concrete.

The same year Erepia made the Western Clydesdales’s squad list for the Hostplus Cup 2023 season.

A Queensland Rugby League (QRL) spokesman said Erepia was issued with a show cause notice on Friday, March 21, four days after he was convicted of sexual assault.

“We can confirm that the player is now provisionally suspended while the procedure for determining whether he meets the NRL Registration terms and conditions is undertaken,” a QRL spokesman said.

The Warwick Cowboys president Dayne Barrett said he was aware of the matter and was awaiting the QRL’s decision.

Secret charge to be dealt with outside court

The day after Erepia was sentenced to a three-month suspended jail term for drunkenly sexually assaulting a Darling Downs woman, he made an application to the Toowoomba District Court to change his bail conditions.

In March 2025, Darling Downs rugby league player Darryl Augustine Erepia, pleaded guilty to a sexual assault charge after his lawyers made a deal with the Crown to drop a much more serious charge.

The bail conditions related to an unrelated outstanding criminal matter that Erepia is attempting to settle outside of the courts.

The court heard the Crown initially opposed Erepia’s lawyer’s submission for the matter to be dealt with through mediation, which resulted in a number of adjournments while the Crown spoke with the complainant.

Bouchier Khan Lawyers managing director and criminal law expert Nathan Bouchier told the court that changed when he pressed the matter.

“(In December 2022) we re-agitated with the Crown who were then seized of the matter as the prosecuting authority that it was appropriate for the matter to proceed by mediation,” he said.

Judge Benedict Power KC approved Erepia’s application to change his bail conditions which removed a number of requirements such as reporting to police and having a zero blood alcohol content.

He also no longer has to surrender his passport.

Rather than deleting the no-contact rule between Erepia and the complainant, Judge Benedict Power amended it to read:

“The defendant must not contact or approach, or have someone else contact or approach, Calan David Wilson, other than through legal representatives or while in attendance at justice mitigation process,” he said.

“I’m satisfied it is in the interest of justice for the bail conditions to be reduced such that they are no more onerous than are necessary having regard to the nature of the offence, the circumstances of the defendant, which include his work in child care and the public interest.”

The court heard prior to talk of mediation, Erepia had elected for the charges to be dealt with via a jury trial.

Judge Power made the final order in his chambers.

Erepia was required to sign a new bail undertaking.