Woman `paid’ for silence in AFL rape: [3 All-round Metro Edition]
Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 19 Mar 2004: 4.
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Abstract
The players are alleged to have belonged to the Sydney Swans, the Brisbane Lions and Port Adelaide.
Chief executive of the Port Adelaide Football Club Brian Cunningham last night confirmed that an undisclosed settlement had been reached on the basis “that all three players denied the allegations and the woman accepted that the settlement was not an admission of liability”.
Full Text
A WOMAN who claims she was sexually assaulted by three high- profile AFL players was paid $200,000 for her silence, tabloid newspapers in Sydney and Melbourne reported last night.
The players are alleged to have belonged to the Sydney Swans, the Brisbane Lions and Port Adelaide.
The Daily Telegraph in Sydney and the Herald Sun in Melbourne said the woman, then 23, had complained to police she had been raped and sexually assaulted by the players in August 2000 in a park after she had been to a west Adelaide nightclub.
The woman said she believed her drink had been spiked earlier in the nightclub.
Charges against the Brisbane Lions and Port Adelaide players were dropped by the South Australian Director of Public Prosecutions five weeks after the event, the newspapers said. The Swans player was believed to have been investigated but was not charged.
The alleged payment of $200,000 arose from a civil action launched by the woman claiming pain and suffering resulting from the alleged attack on August 18, 2000.
Chief executive of the Port Adelaide Football Club Brian Cunningham last night confirmed that an undisclosed settlement had been reached on the basis “that all three players denied the allegations and the woman accepted that the settlement was not an admission of liability”.
He said a Port Adelaide player was allegedly involved in an incident in 2000, but charges were never proceeded with and no findings were made in relation to theplayer.
Mr Cunningham said in a subsequent civil action that a woman allegedly involved in the incident sent a letter of demand seeking a financial settlement. A club official attended meetings between the woman’s lawyer and the player.
“The club did not pay or compensate in any way any party in connection with the matter, nor did it provide or pay for the player’s legal assistance,” he said.