Comment: The sad reality of the second death of Toro George

Former Gold Coast Titans U20 player Oshae Tuiasau, who was found not guilty of the one-punch kill at Surfers Paradise, spent almost two weeks in the dock – but so did the deceased, writes Alex Treacy.

Toro George, 39. Picture: Facebook

It is one of the sad realities of the courtroom that, more often than not, criminal trials unfold as if it is the complainant in the dock.

Brittany Higgins, and Bri Lee, who wrote about her experiences making a sexual assault complaint and taking the matter to trial in the book Eggshell Skull, both knew it.

Now, the family of Toro George does too.

Former Gold Coast Titans U20 player acquitted in fatal punch trial

Mr George was punched once as he walked down Surfers Paradise Boulevard in the early hours of December 19, 2021, by Oshae Jackson Tuiasau, 30, an old school friend of his cousin, Junior Marsters.

CCTV captured the punch.

BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA - NewsWire Photos - JUNE 12, 2025. Former rugby league prodigy Oshae Jackson Tuiasau arrives at the Supreme Court in Brisbane. He pleaded not guilty to unlawfully striking Toro George, 39, who died in hospital eight days after collapsing on a Surfers Paradise street in the early hours of December 19, 2021. Picture: NewsWire

Mr George collapsed as though he had been shot. He died several days later.

Fast forward three-and-a-half years, and the trial became as much about Mr George’s actions and attributes as it did Mr Tuiasau’s.

Mr George was high on cocaine. He was drunk. He had potentially sexually assaulted a woman known to Mr Tuiasau by groping her on a nightclub dancefloor. He was large and had coronary heart disease.

Such assertions were probed again and again by the defence (as, of course, is their right and responsibility).

It was as though Mr George died twice: once on the pavement, and again in the courtroom.

The Crown thought CCTV of the punch would be its trump card – prosecutor Toby Corsbie showed it to the jury within minutes of commencing his opening address.

BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA - NewsWire Photos JUNE 2, 2025: Arden George, the wife of Toro George, outside the Brisbane Supreme Court. Picture: NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

In the circumstances, the jury found Mr Tuiasau not guilty – either on the basis of self-defence or, alternatively, that the punch was not Mr George’s ultimate cause of death – and we do not suggest criminal culpability on his part.

But spare a thought for Mr George’s widow Arden, who carried herself through the trial with dignity and grace, and the children she shared with her late husband.

They will go back to their home in Sydney with nothing but memories of their besmirched husband and father.

His death was just one of those things that happens.

Originally published as Comment: The sad reality of the second death of Toro George