Canberra Raiders player Tom Starling has had an intimidation charge dropped on mental health grounds after police bashed him during a wild brawl.
Three minutes of footage showing Starling being assaulted at the Shady Palms restaurant at Kincumber on the NSW Central Coast in 2020 was played in Gosford Local Court on Thursday.
Defence lawyer Samar Singh-Panwar told the court two police officers in particular – Senior Constable Steven Brown and Sergeant Evan Prowse – had been found by a Sydney magistrate, during a previous hearing, to have assaulted the NRL hooker.
Mr Singh-Panwar tendered a psychological report to the court confirming Starling’s post-traumatic stress disorder diagnosis.
Starling, 24, and his brother, Josh, 21, had pleaded guilty to intimidation over an incident outside a Terrigal bar.
But on Thursday Magistrate Jennifer Price dismissed the charge against Tom Starling on mental health grounds after accepting he had PTSD and discharged him into the care of a psychologist.
Ms Price said Tom Starling would have to attend all appointments with the psychologist and engage in any recommended treatment.
She said there was a great deal riding on him complying with the court orders if he wanted to continue his career.
The magistrate said the footage shown in court appeared to show “a significant degree of quite brutal violence” when Starling was in a powerless position being held down.
Josh Starling was given a two-year conditional release order without conviction.
Outside court, Tom Starling said he was happy with the magistrate’s decision and just wanted to play footy.
Starling and his brother Josh had called out “F**k you” to security guard Khan Morris and gestured for him to come outside when standing across the road after being refused entry to the Terrigal bar on October 16, 2021, because of COVID-19 number limits.
Tom Starling’s girlfriend, Chelsea Balzan, 22, pointed to Morris and ran her finger across her throat.
She was later sentenced to a 10-month conditional release order without conviction.
The Starling brothers had charges of threatening a witness and behaving in an offensive manner previously withdrawn and dismissed.
Mr Singh-Panwar told the court the Raiders planned to give Starling access to a professional counselling group as part of his treatment.
The Terrigal incident happened 10 months after the wild brawl between Tom Starling and his brothers Josh and Jackson, who were out celebrating a friend’s 21st birthday, and security guards and police at Shady Palms on December 5, 2020.
A Sydney magistrate found Morris started the brawl after calling Starling’s mother a “slut”.
Tom and Jackson, 26, were cleared of any wrongdoing, with the magistrate finding police had assaulted Tom while his brothers were acting in self-defence when trying to help him.
The magistrate noted police officers were not acting in the execution of their duty when they repeatedly punched him in the face.
The NSW Professional Standards Command is investigating the conduct of the officers involved and the Starling brothers are planning to sue NSW Police over the incident.
Tom had initially been charged with assaulting four officers but these charges were later dropped and he pleaded not guilty to one count of hindering or resisting police.
Josh was found guilty of assaulting Morris by pushing the security guard in the chest despite having been provoked, and also guilty of resisting police. He was sentenced to an 18-month conditional release order but has appealed the decision.
Jackson pleaded not guilty to a number of charges related to the Terrigal incident, including offensive behaviour and two counts of resisting police, and will face a hearing in July.
Morris has pleaded not guilty to assault causing actual bodily harm over the Shady Palms brawl and will next appear at Gosford Local Court on May 4.
By Mark Russell in Gosford
