St George Illawarra Dragons prop George Burgess will reportedly plead not guilty to an alleged charge of sexual touching which has been made against him by New South Wales police.
Burgess, who is on the first of a two-year contract at the Dragons, has been allowed by the NRL to continue playing since the charge was made by police for an incident which is alleged to have occurred in early March.
Law enforcers are alleging the woman claimed she had been sexually touched without consent by a man on March 8, according to reports. Burgess assisted police in their investigation following the claim.
According to a Fox Sports report, Burgess didn't appear at Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court on Wednesday, when his lawyer Bryan Wrench told the court Burgess would be pleading not guilty to the alleged incident, while also telling the court he is yet to obtain the statement of evidence from police, who have failed to provide it.
“There is a significant dispute about what happened,” Mr Wrench said.
“We need the evidence.”
The matter has been adjourned until June 8 for the evidence to be provided, according to the statement, with Burgess again excused from appearing.
In late March, the NRL released a statement confirming Burgess would be able to continue playing.
"The National Rugby League (NRL) has advised the St George Illawarra Dragons that player George Burgess will be permitted to continue playing in the NRL Premiership while subject to criminal proceedings," the NRL's statement read at the time.
"So as not to prejudice Burgess’ criminal proceedings case, the NRL will wait the outcome of that case before taking any action for possible breaches of NRL rules.
"The decision in no way forms a judgement on the allegations against Burgess which are serious and the NRL reserves the right to impose a No Fault Stand Down in the future."
Burgess has only played a single game in the NRL this season following his return to the competition with the Dragons - that came in Round 2 against the Penrith Panthers, with Burgess playing 26 minutes from the bench.
He was the 18th man in a Round 4 demolition at the hands of the Parramatta Eels, but failed to be named last week.
In a surprise twist, Anthony Griffin has named Burgess on the bench for this weekend's Round 5 clash against the Newcastle Knights, to be played on Sunday afternoon in Wollongong.
I read:
“So as not to prejudice Burgess’ criminal proceedings case, the NRL will wait the outcome of that case before taking any action for possible breaches of NRL rules.”
… and I thought “Hurrah, the NRL has learned something from the Jack de Belin fiasco”. Then I read:
“The decision in no way forms a judgement on the allegations against Burgess which are serious and the NRL reserves the right to impose a No Fault Stand Down in the future.”
… and I thought “don’t get carried away – they haven’t.” They certainly haven’t learned that the foundation of the law is ‘Presumed Innocent Until Proven Guilty’