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Not a good look at all after the Delegat decision. Hopefully NZR show more spine than the judge and the WRU have and do not select him for any NZ rep teams if he is good enough. It will be interesting if those people who were so vocal over the Chiefs incident are equally vociferous about this.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/84680904/wellington-rugby-player-discharged-without-conviction
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Well you can be assured social media will go fucken ape shit over this one.
How long until a young rugby player kills someone but gets a slap on the wrist because, say, he's an extremely promising lock forward and Whitelock and Retallick are close to retirement ?
That's absolute bullshit.
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Ordinarily I tend to give a judge who heard all the evidence the benefit of the doubt. However this case sounds horrific. I am amazed that you can get discharge without conviction for assault with intent to injure. Just seems wrong.
On the other hand, the quality of reporting on Stuff is so bad that possibly it was not as bad as they are claiming.
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More info in this article/video:
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@Damo said in Appalling double-standard:
Ordinarily I tend to give a judge who heard all the evidence the benefit of the doubt. However this case sounds horrific. I am amazed that you can get discharge without conviction for assault with intent to injure. Just seems wrong.
On the other hand, the quality of reporting on Stuff is so bad that possibly it was not as bad as they are claiming.
It's one thing to have a punch up with another bloke ( or two ) something entirely different to punch a female. I could be wrong but I strongly suspect the two women he hit weren't exactly a pair of Ronda Rouseys.
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Well the Stuff article has absolutely no details on what happened at all, and the newshub article has an extremely one-sided account of evens from the "tearful" victims, who omit to mention what provoked Losi.
Not condoning what he ended up doing but I am willing to give the judge, who has all of the evidence, mitigating factors and information about everyone involved, the benefit of the doubt.
It's another case of "do we ruin this guys life and have him end up being a drag on society, or do we throw him a bone and give him a chance to atone and become a positive member of society". The victims want his life ruined, but society doesn't benefit from that.
It's not just sports stars that avoid conviction. Rightly or wrongly many people avoid conviction if it is their first run in with the law in NZ, particularly if the judge believes they have learnt a lesson and can be good citizens moving forward. It's only rich people and sports stars that ever make the media though... because click bait.
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@No-Quarter said in Appalling double-standard:
Well the Stuff article has absolutely no details on what happened at all, and the newshub article has an extremely one-sided account of evens from the "tearful" victims, who omit to mention what provoked Losi.
Not condoning what he ended up doing but I am willing to give the judge, who has all of the evidence, mitigating factors and information about everyone involved, the benefit of the doubt.
It's another case of "do we ruin this guys life and have him end up being a drag on society, or do we throw him a bone and give him a chance to atone and become a positive member of society". The victims want his life ruined, but society doesn't benefit from that.
It's not just sports stars that avoid conviction. Rightly or wrongly many people avoid conviction if it is their first run in with the law in NZ, particularly if the judge believes they have learnt a lesson and can be good citizens moving forward. It's only rich people and sports stars that ever make the media though... because click bait.
What you're referring to is called "diversion" and it's reserved for generally minor offences.
Whatever "provoked" him DOES NOT excuse him hitting two chicks.
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I read the article and I like to withhold my outrage until I see some detail that has a suitably qualified individual address the evidence and follow the guidelines in arriving ar such an outcome.
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maybe the Stuff article and Newshub facts are skewed, wouldnt be the first time?
I know when Ranger was being charged with assault, allegedly beating a guy and then kicking him in the head while on the ground...facts presented in the media were wrong (never mind that it turned out it wasnt even him that did it..but he was a good target on the verge of AB selection...cha-ching)
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This player has been discharged without conviction. If I understand the legal side of this correctly, that means that he was found guilty of the charges (assault with intent to injure; two counts of male assaults female and injures with intent to injure).
Regardless of the exact circumstances (whether described correctly in the media or not), he did commit the offences and IMO he didn't receive an adequate punishment. In fact, I'd like to know whether he did receive any punishment at all.
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Judges make bizarre calls all the time sadly, for all sorts of different people...my point was the media will paint whatever picture to suit their agenda, regardless of omitting or including all relevant facts or info, I expect this fits the we have a shit rugby culture narrative we have been hearing recently (even if incidents like this fuel the fire)
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Just read that one of the female victims is a sister of TJ Perenara's girlfriend. Perenara is contracted to Wellington Rugby as well. Wonder what would have happened if TJ hadn't made the ABs this year. Don't think having both in their team would go well under these circumstances.
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One of the people he beat up says he was on the verge of making thf Lions himself but the injuries he received ended that. He ends someone else's career but is allowed a slap on the wrist to continue his?
One of the guys that killed that Stephen Dudley in Auckland got similar treatment in the courts and is playing in Japan now. -
@Stargazer Watching the TV3 story when it aired live tonight it did appear that the victims knew Filipo as they were referring to him by his first name. And given the serious injuries to 2 of them, at least, the only lives that have been ruined are theirs.
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@Bovidae said in Appalling double-standard:
@Stargazer Watching the TV3 story when it aired live tonight it did appear that the victims knew Filipo as they were referring to him by his first name. And given the serious injuries to 2 of them, at least, the only lives that have been ruined are theirs.
Yes, and reading the messages sent to Wellington Rugby on social media, Wellington fans are not impressed at all.
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Statement Wellington Rugby:
WRFU statement on Losi Filipo MONDAY 26 September 2016 Wellington Rugby would like to state clearly our organisation does not support violence in any form. The recent news story about Wellington contracted Under 19s player Losi Filipo has created an understandable reaction among our fan base and the wider public. Wellington Rugby would like to reiterate that Filipo’s case, including evidence from all of the parties involved, was dealt with by the New Zealand judicial system in August this year. Filipo, who was 17 at the time, was charged with assault for an incident that occurred while he was a secondary school student in October, 2015. Filipo was discharged without conviction by the judge in charge of the case. Wellington Rugby provided generic information to Filipo’s lawyer about the effects of a conviction on a professional rugby player, but was not involved in the court proceedings and has not been privy to the full details of the case. Wellington Rugby chief executive officer Steve Rogers said the situation was a difficult one for all involved.“Wellington Rugby is extremely disappointed in Losi’s actions and does not condone such behaviour from any member of the organisation regardless of their position or status. “We have been aware since late last year that Losi was involved in an off-field incident, but delayed any internal investigation to allow the judicial process to be completed. “Based on the facts made available to us, and the court judgement that deemed a conviction out of proportion to the gravity of the offence, we continued down the path of providing Losi with a support network to assist in his rehabilitation. “We also began an internal process that included our newly employed personal development manager working with him on a regular basis with the view to achieving a positive long term outcome.” Since his offending, Filipo has completed 150 hours of voluntary work with a youth development group promoting positive behaviour through sport and has undertaken regular counselling. -
@antipodean said in Appalling double-standard:
I read the article and I like to withhold my outrage until I see some detail that has a suitably qualified individual address the evidence and follow the guidelines in arriving ar such an outcome.
100%. All we have is some very one-sided accounts in the media about what happened. The same media that is driven by "clicks" so will absolutely always try and create controversy.
Again, not condoning his actions, but withholding my outrage until I hear the reasoning behind the decision.
This is what often happens. Some initial "facts" surface in the media about an incident. Cue public outrage. Two weeks later when the judge is allowed to speak publicly he/she clearly explains their decision which makes perfect sense, but the story doesn't make the main page because everyone has moved on and it's not controversial enough.
People are desperate to be outraged. This doesn't look great, but again we don't even know the facts yet. This is the type of thing something like the BLM movement in the States thrives on. Get the victims or somebody close to the victims to give their opinion to mainstream media and create some outrage. When the facts surface later on nobody gives a shit because they're too busy being outraged.
Maybe you can tell.. but I deeply distrust a media that is driven by clicks.
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Quite by chance the following appeared on today's Dominion Post website. Something along the same lines but with a very different judicial punishment imposed.
Interestingly no mention of the Filipo case on the Dominion's website. Draw your own conclusions on that.
Appalling double-standard
