Former NRL star Curtis Scott CLEARED over nightclub punch triggered by ‘gay experience’ remarks

Troubled NRL star Curtis Scott CLEARED over nightclub punch that triggered his PTSD from being tasered by police after he claimed a man approached him for a ‘gay experience’

  • The former premiership winner was facing charges of assault in Canberra
  • It came after he struck a patron at Kokomo’s nightclub in May 2021
  • The magistrate ruled he acted in self defence after ‘gay experience’ comments 
  • Mr Scott also argued that his PTSD from police tasering influenced his actions 

Former NRL player Curtis Scott has been acquitted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm after successfully arguing he was defending himself from a potentially dangerous assault by a drunk patron.

CCTV vision shows Mr Scott striking a man at Canberra nightclub Kokomo’s in May 2021, a punch that broke the man’s nose.

Mr Scott’s defence argued in ACT Magistrates Court that Mr Scott felt threatened because the man was touching him, expressing his desire to have a ‘gay experience’ and that Mr Scott’s diagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder had influenced his reaction to the incident.

CCTV footage shows the incident when Mr Scott lashed out at the patron who had been harassing him at Kokomo’s night club in Canberra

‘He said something along the lines of he’d like to have a gay experience with me,’ Mr Scott told the court.

‘I said: ‘Mate, f*** off, don’t touch me’.’

‘I thought they were going to attack me,’ Mr Scott told the court.

‘That’s when I threw a left-hand punch.’

The man who was hit by Mr Scott denied that he made the remarks.

‘I’ve never said those words before in my life,’ he told the court.

‘I’m a fan of tattoos.

‘I maybe placed a hand on his left shoulder.’

Scott leaves Downing Centre Court in Sydney after he had a charge of assaulting police dropped in 2020

Scott leaves Downing Centre Court in Sydney after he had a charge of assaulting police dropped in 2020

However a Kokomo’s security guard confirmed Mr Scott’s version of events and said the man who was struck was intoxicated.

‘[The man] was getting to that sloppy stage, where it was nearly time to say: ‘Time to go home’,’ he told the court.

Mr Scott told the court he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after an incident on Australia Day 2020, when he was tasered and pepper-sprayed by police in a Sydney park.

The former Canberra Raiders centre was intoxicated after a lengthy drinking session on January 27 and fell asleep in Sydney’s Moore Park on his way home.

NSW Police were later ordered to pay Mr Scott $100,000 after he was handcuffed, tasered and pepper sprayed by officers for sleeping under a tree.

Disturbing footage of that incident showed Mr Scott writhing in pain and he told the court in his current case that his PTSD from that incident had impacted his ability to handle this situation.

Mr Scott told the court he was afraid when the man came toward him a second time and feared turning his back on a potential assailant.

Mr Scott was an NRL player with the Melbourne Storm and Canberra Raiders but failed to have his contract at the Parramatta Eels registered by the NRL

Mr Scott was an NRL player with the Melbourne Storm and Canberra Raiders but failed to have his contract at the Parramatta Eels registered by the NRL

Prosecutor Katie McCann queried his account, asking why he had stayed at the table.

‘I thought if I turned my back and walked away I could be attacked from behind,’ Mr Scott told the court.

Mr Scott had the world at his feet when he exploded onto the NRL scene as a teenager, lining up as the youngest player on the field in the Melbourne Storm’s grand final win against the North Queensland Cowboys in 2017.

He moved to the Canberra Raiders where he played 23 games before he was sacked for his role in the nightclub incident. He was also issued an NRL breach notice which saw him suspended for three games and fined $15,000.

Mr Scott was given an NRL lifeline with the Parramatta Eels in 2021 but the NRL refused to register the contract. He is currently working in Sydney as a courier.

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