Sam Burgess: Former England rugby league captain guilty of intimidating former father-in-law in Australia

SAM BURGESS COURT
Sam Burgess leaves Moss Vale Local Court
AAP/PA Images

Former England rugby league captain Sam Burgess has been convicted of intimidating his former father-in-law in a confrontation in Australia.

The 32-year-old was said to be “enraged” when asked to leave the home of Mitchell Hooke, telling him “I’m going to get you” during the stand-off.

Mr Hooke, the father of Burgess’ ex-wife Phoebe and a prominent political lobbyist, said he felt “absolute terror” in the 2019 incident and feared he was about to be punched.

At a Sydney court on Friday Burgess denied intimidation, but he was found guilty by a magistrate and placed on a two-year good behaviour bond.

“I accept Mr Hooke was terrified, that his whole body went cold”, said magistrate Robert Rabbidge.

“An enraged Sam Burgess would be a frightening figure for any Australian.”

The former rugby international immediately signalled he would appeal the conviction, saying outside court: "I'm confused with the decision.”

Burgess, who played for Bradford Bulls before switching to the South Sydney Rabbitohs, captained the England rugby league side and also competed for his country in rugby union.

The court heard the incident happened during an arranged visit by Burgess with his two children at Mr Hooke’s ranch in New South Wales.

Mr Hooke said he told Burgess to leave when the time of the visit had elapsed, but the rugby star refused to leave until his ex-wife had returned to the ranch.

Mr Hooke told the court he came face-to-face with Burgess who shouted at him: "I'm going to get you. You've set all of this up."

Burgess argued he had been threatened by his former father-in-law, including being told: "I'm going to destroy you and your career."

But the magistrate decided he preferred Mr Hooke’s "impressive, believable and consistent" account, noting that Burgess is “far taller, bulkier, fitter and half the age of his father-in-law”.

Burgess, who was forced to retire from professional sport in 2019 due to a shoulder injury, was supported at court by his mother Julie, who told reporters outside her son was a good father and a good man.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in