It was a night meant for celebration. A night of drinking with the boys. The lads were soaking up the adoration of the local blondes. He’d been selected for State of Origin team and it was time to let loose.
It was June 16, and Rugby League star Blake Ferguson was living the life, celebrating with ex-Canberra teammate Josh Dugan.
The girls liked them. The drinks were plentiful. Punters in the clubs knew who they were and kept stopping them for photos, or just to chat.
The boys were on top of the world.
Earlier in the night Ferguson had been to ‘Northies’ a well-known Cronulla drinking spot.
He liked the way girls knew who he was, and he liked the way they acted around him.
Ferguson claims he met a young blonde, whose name he didn’t really hear (if she told him at all), and whose face he didn’t really look at, when they hooked up.
He claims he touched this woman’s ‘upper thighs’. He remembers that, even though he doesn’t remember her face.
Ferguson claims that this woman let him touch her. He seemed to remember that – even though he didn’t remember her name.
He claims that he left ‘Northies’ and went to another nightspot, where the same women was present – the nameless one, he allegedly kissed and fondled.
Ferguson decided to touch her again. It was dark, and she was drunk, and as it turns out she was the wrong blonde.
This blonde didn’t like being touched by a football star in a nightclub so she pushed him away.
Ferguson claims, it was simply mistaken identity.
However a court yesterday in Sydney made a counter claim.
Ferguson was labelled a liar and a sexual predator. Ferguson’s behaviour was reckless, they said.
And now, he-of-the-failing-memory, might just have two years in jail to try to remember that woman’s name.
Yesterday in Sutherland Local Court, Rugby league star Blake Ferguson was convicted of indecently assaulting a woman at the 2230 nightclub in Cronulla.
Ferguson made an apology to the court, he said he mistook the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, for another blonde that he had hooked up with, earlier in the evening at Northies.
“I’ve always liked blonde girls, because I lived in Cronulla for a long time,” he said.
“I would like to say sorry to [the victim], I would never touch her in a sexual way. I’m really sorry I mistaked [sic] her for the girl I hooked up with at Northies. I would never touch a girl like that if I didn’t know them at an intimate level.”
Ferguson’s lawyer said that the victim was taking advantage of the Rugby league player’s fame.
That she was drunk. That she consumed three vodkas, one cider and two shots.
The woman, claims Ferguson allegedly squeezed her vagina firmly for “two to three seconds” on the outside of her clothes and then “laughed at me”, the court heard.
Ferguson told the court it was “mistaken identity” caused by bad nightclub lighting.
CCTV footage shows quite clearly a well-lit room.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ei-vd399BsY
The footage played to the court shows Ferguson and Dugan socialising with the alleged victim and others.
Ferguson can be seen grabbing another woman by the head as she tries to walk away before pulling her in to a bear hug.
The woman slaps him and he slaps her back.
Ferguson then turns to the alleged victim who is standing against a wall in the club.
The two come together before the woman pushes Ferguson away.
It is at this point the woman claimed Ferguson allegedly indecently assaulted her for “two to three seconds”.
His lawyer disputed the length of time saying the incident occurred in “less than a second”, the court heard.
Ferguson’s cousin, boxer Anthony Mundine, and former Canberra Raiders teammate Josh Dugan were star witnesses at the hearing.
Mundine provided a character reference, saying it was not in Ferguson’s nature to treat women disrespectfully.
His mate, Josh Dugan described how the pair often had women throwing themselves at them when they hit the town.
The defence showed images of the victim ‘photo-bombing’ pictures being taken of the football stars. They said that this showed she knew who they were.
She says she didn’t know who the men were.
We aren’t sure that matters at all.
Magistrate Jacqueline Trad rejected Ferguson’s story.
She said there was no evidence to support it .
She said in any case, he showed no regard for the woman’s consent.
He took “no steps whatsoever to consider whether consent was being given and in that sense, he was reckless,” she said.
Prosecutor Rick Mansley argued the “mistaken identity” excuse was a “recent invention” made up in court without a “scintilla” of evidence. He told the court Ferguson had simply made the story up.
Sentencing was set for February 3, 2014, with Ferguson’s lawyer Adam Houda telling the court Ferguson needed his mental health “assessed”.
We will keep you updated.
Top Comments
I find his story very believable. I have been in the same situation, dark, pissed, familiar looking girl.
That doesn't stop it being reckless or whatever the legal definition is. I don't think Ferguson deserves jail but he needs some kind of lesson.
And cue all the footy fans & clubs with all the footy mole/groupies/gold digger stories.
Whenever one of these situations arise (which is almost on a daily basis) all the chestnuts about slutty groupies & vulnerable players saturate the media regardless of the actual individual incident being investigated.
I don't doubt there are some thoroughly decent players out there but they do seem to be held to a lower standard - all sports stars are.
Mike Tyson did time for rape for God's sake (the fact that a celeb in the States did time tells me there must have been a pretty strong case) & yet he is still a media darling & has a career & a future.
This tool will come out of this with no great loss to his career in the long run. She will be vilified despite the verdict.
Mike Tyson lost hundreds of millions of dollars and was basically ostracised by mainstream media for many years. Only when his daughter died did he turn his life around at which point people welcomed him back. Anyone who thinks him doing time was just a minor speed bump is revising history. It doesn't excuse what he did, but you can't just make the facts up to suit the story.