Former South Sydney NRL captain and English rugby star Sam Burgess has been found guilty of intimidating his then wife’s father, former mining lobbyist Mitchell Hooke.
The 32-year-old yelled “fuck you, I’m going to get you” 20cm from Hooke’s face during an expletive-riddled rage, sparked when he was asked to leave the Hookes’ Southern Highlands property in October 2019.
“I accept Mr Hooke was terrified, that his whole body went cold,” magistrate Robert Rabbidge said in Moss Vale local court on Friday.
Burgess denied swearing in the home but admitted angrily cursing when the argument continued in the driveway.
He also accused the father of his estranged wife, Phoebe Burgess, of being the aggressor.
But police attacked the former footballer’s testimony, saying parts did not make sense.
Burgess conceded Hooke said, “What are you going to do? Hit a 64-year-old man?”, but claimed the men were metres apart at the time.
“Surely such words could only be uttered after a close encounter,” the magistrate said.
“What is incontrovertible is the shock and distress that Mr Hooke displayed to his daughters and police.”
Burgess’s legal team had alleged Hooke and Phoebe Burgess set out to harm Burgess’s career and reputation by making the allegation and orchestrating a damaging expose on the retired Rabbitoh published by News Corp Australia in October 2020.
But that was dismissed by the magistrate, who found Hooke’s testimony clear and concise.
Rabbidge convicted Burgess and sentenced him to a two-year community corrections order, requiring him to be of good behaviour.
Burgess retired in 2019 after a 270-game NRL and English Super League career and stints with England’s national rugby union and rugby league sides.
He stood down from roles as a commentator and South Sydney assistant coach in October.