Charges against rugby league stars Latrell Mitchell and Jack Wighton have been dropped, a day after a senior police officer involved in their arrests admitted to giving false evidence to the court.
The pair, who are distant cousins and will be teammates from next season, have spent the last two days in ACT Magistrates Court over incidents alleged to have occurred on a night out for Mr Wighton’s 30th birthday in Canberra in February.
Mr Wighton was charged with contravening an exclusion order and fighting in a public place, while Mr Mitchell was charged with fighting in a public place, affray, and resisting territory official.
It was initially alleged that Mr Wighton had been given an exclusion notice after police observed him “pushing and shoving” a man inside Fiction nightclub, having “clenched fists” and having an “angry” expression on his face which made police think violence could ensue.
But on Tuesday, Sergeant David Power – the supervisor of a group of officers involved in the incident – was shown a series of CCTV that Mr Wighton’s lawyer Steve Boland argued showed significant holes in the police’s description of the night.
Sergeant Power then told the court allegations he’d made about why he’d kicked Mr Wighton out of the club no longer seemed accurate.
Sergeant Power admitted: “What I saw didn’t line up with the footage” and conceded he had a “memory issue”.
“What I saw appears to have not happened, and my memory has failed me,” he said.
Mr Boland accused Sergeant Power of trying to “frame” his client by “inventing” evidence.
“It wasn’t a lie. It’s what I believed happened,” Sergeant Power said and denied misleading the court.
The sergeant later apologised to Mr Wighton in front of the court.
“Sorry Jack, if that’s what happened, mate. I thought I saw something different,” he said to Mr Wighton.
Under further questioning, Mr Boland asked if it was a “fact you’ve given false evidence”, to which Sergeant Power said it “appeared as so”.
Once outside the club, while walking away, it was alleged Mr Wighton and Mr Mitchell got into a “fight”.
The pair’s defence had maintained that it wasn’t a fight because “no punches were thrown, no one was on the ground”.
While some officers were arresting Mr Wighton, police used elbows, knees, and a spray can to get Mr Mitchell onto the ground.
They used a baton to extract one of his arms out from under his body so police could handcuff him, telling him to “stop resisting”, as video footage showed to the court affirmed.
Mr Mitchell could be heard crying in pain. The defence had told the court on Monday Mr Mitchell was “reduced to a weeping mess, fearing for his life” during the process.
Friends of the pair were meanwhile pleading with police, with one female friend who was videoing the incident heard telling the officers they were engaged “police brutality”.
On Wednesday morning, prosecutor Sam Bargwanna said no further evidence would be brought against Mr Mitchell and Mr Wighton.
Magistrate Jane Campbell then declared all charges dismissed.
