Former NRL player Curtis Scott has been fined, but spared time behind bars after twice assaulting his girlfriend and intimidating her with threats to kill.
The former Melbourne Storm and Canberra Raiders player was sentenced in Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court on Friday after being found guilty last month of offences against his former partner, long jumper Tay-Leiha Clark.
Magistrate Daniel Covington convicted Scott, placing him on a 12-month community corrections order and fining him $1400.
“In relation to domestic violence offences, the recognition of harm to the victim comes to a head in relation to offences such as these,” he said.
“These are multiple incidents that occurred over a period of time and there are three separate incidents that he is being sentenced to.”
The magistrate took into account the former NRL centre’s age at the time of the incidents, his lack of prior criminal convictions, and his current mental condition including PTSD which he was being treated for.
The cancellation of Scott’s NRL contract after the allegations emerged in 2021, and his inability to now play professional rugby league were also considered.
The court accepted a factor which made the offending worse was that one of the assaults occurred in the victim’s home.
However, arguments by police prosecutors that other factors – including that the victim was vulnerable because she was 18 at the time and subsequently suffered “substantial” emotional harm – required a harsher sentence were rejected.
A two-year apprehended violence order is now in place forbidding the Bonnet Bay man from approaching or contacting Ms Clark or threatening, intimidating or assaulting her.
The 25-year-old attended court on Friday with his current partner, NRLW player Zali Fay. The Parramatta Eels winger handed up documents to the court showing her support for Scott and speaking to his temperament.
Scott assaulted Ms Clark causing actual bodily harm at Sylvania on October 27, 2018, putting his hand on Ms Clark’s neck and “launching” her over a lounge into a wall, causing her to skin her arm and sustain an egg-sized lump on her head.
He also assaulted his then partner at Lake Conjola in December the same year, charging at her and knocking her to the ground. He immediately apologised.
Scott was further convicted of intimidating Ms Clark in a phone call in March 2019.
The magistrate accepted Scott said “f*** you, I’m going to kill you”, called her a “whore” and “slut”, and also threatened to kill himself, before he drove into a tree.
Earlier on Friday, defence barrister Slade Howell argued that Scott was emotionally immature at the time the domestic violence occurred.
This was the first real relationship the former NRL player had been in, with both him and Ms Clark finding it difficult to navigate feelings of jealousy and insecurity throughout their time together, Mr Howell said.
Scott was “in a heightened emotional state and vulnerable” when he attempted to harm himself by driving into a tree, and had cut all contact with Ms Clark after the incidents, the court heard.
“When he was observed after the crash, he was in the back seat of a car crying and talking about if he killed himself that no one would care,” Mr Howell said.
Scott walked out of court stony-faced alongside Ms Fay and his legal team, declining to speak to reporters.
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