Former Melbourne Storm and Canberra Raiders player Curtis Scott allegedly repeatedly assaulted his girlfriend and later threatened to kill her, a magistrate has been told.
But the now-unregistered centre denies ever laying a hand on the woman during what his lawyer termed their “somewhat tumultuous” two-year relationship.
Scott, 24, has pleaded not guilty to six counts including reckless choking, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and intimidation.
The offences allegedly occurred in the six months before the couple broke up in March 2019, Sydney magistrate Daniel Covington was told on Monday.
Three incidents allegedly occurred over Christmas 2018, with police alleging the 190-centimetre man pushed the woman in the chest several times and later choked her by the collar of her pyjamas.
Days later, following an argument at a holiday house in Lake Conjola, Scott allegedly bit her on the shoulder “before he shoulder-barges her, causing her to fall to the ground”, a police prosecutor said.
The final allegation centres on a phone call Scott, then 21, made from Victoria in which he is accused of using words to the effect of “I’m going to f***ing kill you, c***”.
The woman complained to police in November 2021.
Prosecutors will also attempt to rely on tendency evidence suggesting Scott assaulted the woman in Victoria too.
Scott, through his lawyer, didn’t dispute the young couple repeatedly argued during their long-distance relationship – “fuelled on both sides by immaturity … and feelings of jealousy”.
One of those arguments occurred inside a Sydney Olympic Park hotel the night of the 2018 NRL Grand Final, in which Scott’s Storm fell short to the Sydney Roosters.
“It is firmly disputed, however, that during any of these arguments, or during any other argument during the relationship, (Scott) physically assaulted, strangled or threatened to kill the complainant,” barrister Slade Howell said on Monday.
“At no stage did he ever do any of these things.”
Family and mutual friends are expected to give evidence during three days of hearings at Downing Centre Local Court this week.
Scott was supported on Monday by his father, sister-in-law and other relatives.
The Sydney-born centre played 49 matches for Storm over four years, before joining Canberra ahead of the 2020 season.
His time in the capital ended abruptly in August 2021 when the Raiders tore up his contract, having determined he’d brought the club into disrepute.
He also made headlines in 2020 when awarded more than $100,000 in legal costs after police pepper-sprayed and tasered him in a Sydney park.
Charges against Scott related to that incident were dismissed by a magistrate who admonished police and labelled the case “faulty and unwarranted”.
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