NRL players Latrell Mitchell and Josh Addo-Carr have been hit with firearms charges after a weekend getaway with about 10 men.
Key points:
- The NRL players have been accused of “putting the game and community at risk”
- Mitchell and Addo-Carr have been charged with firearm offences
- Pictures emerged of Cleary with a group of people at his home
Photos and videos posted to Melbourne star Addo-Carr’s Instagram account showed a group huddled around a camp fire at Mitchell’s property on the NSW Mid-North Coast.
There were also photographs showing a group of men, including the players, shooting guns and riding dirt bikes at South West Rocks.
Newcastle’s Tyronne Roberts-Davis was not in the photos around the camp but was sprung in another image posted of the group dirt biking.
South Sydney star Mitchell attended Taree Police Station today after being charged with giving a firearm to a person not authorised by licence/permit.
His firearms licence was suspended, and a number of guns were seized by police.
Addo-Carr has been charged with the unauthorised use of a firearm.
Both men will appear at Taree Local Court on Tuesday, August 4.
It comes after NSW Police confirmed yesterday they had fined Mitchell, Addo-Carr and Roberts-Davis $1,000 for the getaway.
The NRL today issued four players with breach notices for “bringing the game into disrepute” by flouting social distancing laws amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Mitchell and Addo-Carr have each been handed $50,000 fines, with 60 per cent of that suspended until the end of the season.
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Roberts-Davis has been issued with a $10,000 fine, with 60 per cent of that suspended.
In an unrelated matter, Penrith player Nathan Cleary was also fined $10,000 after photographs surfaced of Cleary with a group of people on Anzac Day.
Each player has been handed a one-game ban, however that is also suspended.
The players now have five days to respond to the breach notices.
Australian Rugby League Commission Chairman Peter V’landys said the players were “putting the game and the community at risk by their actions”.
“It’s certainly hard to accept such behaviour when the game is doing everything it can to persuade the community that its players are responsible and behave appropriately,” he said.
NSW Police has said it is looking into photographs which appear to show Cleary violating social-distancing rules on the weekend.
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Social media photos have emerged of him in close contact with a group of several women, reportedly taken at his home on Saturday.
“Police are aware of the images and are investigating,” a NSW Police spokeswoman said.
In an Instagram video posted on Monday afternoon, Addo-Carr said that he was “really sorry from the bottom of my heart” and said the getaway was the result of family members “going through a really tough time”.
In a separate video, Mitchell also apologised and said the incident had been “a little bit of a slip-up”.
“We’re not here to break any rules or hurt anyone, we’re not being selfish [but] I couldn’t turn down the brothers in their time of need,” Mitchell said.
