Essendon great Tim Watson and top lawyer Nick Pappas call for Richmond and AFL to hand down sanctions to premiership TigerOctober 25, 2017 10:04am
Ben Waterworth
FOX SPORTSRICHMOND has “fiercely denied” questions that the woman involved in the circulated topless premiership medal photo was paid before telling police that she would drop her complaint, according to 3AW broadcaster Neil Mitchell.
Mitchell said he had put the question directly to the Tigers on Wednesday morning.
“My question: Was money paid? Did the Richmond Football Club, a player or a supporter, pay the girl to drop the action?” Mitchell asked on 3AW.
“I’ve asked that question of her lawyers and the club as well. Only a short while ago, the club fiercely denied any money was paid — although how they’d know whether a supporter did it is questionable. But they say the club and the player did not compensate her.”
The Tigers’ denial comes after an AFL great and top lawyer called for sanctions against the Richmond player involved.
At the request of the complainant, Victoria Police on Tuesday night ceased its investigation into the intimate images of a topless woman wearing a premiership medal, but reiterated that it could be reopened at a later date.
Police had earlier identified the Richmond player who took the photo, which was sent out on social media after the Tigers’ premiership win on September 30.
Essendon legend Tim Watson believes it is now “incumbent” on both Richmond and the AFL to discipline the Tigers player involved in the circulation of the photo.
“I can completely understand how the girl in this story doesn’t want to go any further because she would understand completely and utterly the publicity that would surround this,” Watson said on SEN Breakfast.
“At some point, her identity would be revealed and it becomes a greater story and a greater concern for her.
“The girl still maintains that her trust and her privacy have been breached by the unauthorised distribution of the photo, therefore I would think it is incumbent on the AFL and Richmond to have some form of punishment attached to all this if they are fair dinkum about this whole idea of respect and responsibility for women.”
On Tuesday night, a spokesperson for Maurice Blackburn Lawyers — the firm representing the woman — told the Herald Sun that she “maintains that her trust and privacy has been breached by the unauthorised distribution of the photo”.
Nick Pappas QC, who was appointed the Chief Magistrate of Victoria at the age of 35, said police could continue its formal investigation even if the woman no longer wanted to be part of it.
“Any sort of offence where the police have been given some sort of information, including where there’s a complainant who’s made a statement, such as in this case — presumably she’s made a statement — is sufficient to permit the police to continue their investigation and, indeed, the prosecutor,” Mr Pappas told 3AW.
“They’d certainly take into account her wishes, bearing in mind they’ve spent arguably a week or two investigating it, taking statements, there’s been public resources and public interest in the matter. So the views of the complainant, in this case, are only one of the factors have been taken into account.
“A couple of the others, though, are strength of the case, the likelihood of conviction, the amount resources that have been expended already, the very question of the message to the community — there are a number of issues.”
But Mr Pappas agreed that the AFL must get involved in the matter now.
“This is a question of public standards and morality and very much the question of how the men of our game deal with the young women of the game, who associate with them, and respect and equality and proper treatment of individuals who are bigger than the game, with all due respect to the game,” Mr Pappas said.
“These things seem to happen a bit, the AFL purports to be setting moral and community standards and to distribute an image without consent is clearly not acceptable.”
Mitchell said the case was “too important” to let the player go unpunished.
“This is an important message to every young idiot — footballer or not — that women in this situation should be treated decently. This case had enormous potential to spread the message on cyber safety and privacy,” Mitchell told 3AW.
“The women’s privacy must be maintained here, but the case shouldn’t stop here, the case shouldn’t rest here.”
Earlier this month, Richmond chief executive Brendon Gale said his club wanted to help police get to the bottom of the incident.
“This club feels very strongly about creating an environment where women can thrive and this club feels very strongly about promoting attitudes and behaviours that are respectful of and supportive of women,” he said.
https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/essendon-great-and-top-lawyer-call-for-richmond-and-afl-to-hand-down-sanctions-to-premiership-tiger/news-story/398d9f6e8d401347251c4d03a19d8c3b
