Ahh, so it didn't involve the bloke accused at all then, goodo.
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Ahh, so it didn't involve the bloke accused at all then, goodo.
there you go Burgs,nothing ever happened
Well Cooper couldnt remember it anyway!
Weight lifts off Quade Cooper's shoulders
* Iain Payten
* From: The Daily Telegraph
* July 17, 2010 12:00AM
A CASH compensation pay-off was part of the mediation which yesterday resulted in burglary charges against Wallaby star Quade Cooper being withdrawn.
The footballer expressed relief that the darkest period of his career was over even as a $7500 fine was imposed by the Australian Rugby Union for unacceptable behaviour.
Cooper has trained and played for the past seven months with the allegations hanging over his head since a drunken night on the Gold Coast on December 6 last year put him in hot water.
"I'm just happy that everything has been withdrawn and it's over," Cooper said after training with the Wallabies in Sydney yesterday.
"It's a confidential process so I can't say any more. I'm just looking forward to what I've got in front of me a lot of football. There are exciting times ahead."
Cooper's lawyer Dan McManus, of Chesterfield Lawyers, issued a statement saying the charges had been withdrawn in the Southport Magistrate's Court yesterday after "completion of a justice mediation process with the complainants, conducted through the [Queensland] Department of Justice and Attorney-General".
The Daily Telegraph understands that the complainants, two foreign university students, were compensated for damage to a door, the loss of a laptop and the stress the case caused them with its high media profile.
"The entire contents of the mediation are confidential so I cannot comment," McManus said when asked whether compensation had been paid.
The ARU acted swiftly on its own internal review of Cooper's conduct after the proceedings were removed from the courts.
The $7500 fine, less than a single Test match payment of $12,500, took into account the negative publicity for the code and another speed bump in his off-field record last month.
The 22-year-old lost his licence for six months for driving while disqualified but upset the ARU by failing to inform them he'd be in court.
Along with the fine, Cooper has to remain in the coun- selling program that he began in January.
That's a positive, given Cooper admitted the programs helped him sort out his life and saw him named Australia's Super 14 player of the year.
"It's good for Quade obviously and it's good for us," Wallabies coach Robbie Deans said of the withdrawn charges. "It's been a cloud in the back of his mind.
"Now he can push on and concentrate on the things that are most important to him."
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/spo...-1225892888020
+ the undisclosed sum to the backpackers.
i think its the undisclosed sum to students thats the issue here, hes clearly been advised to throw some money at the problem to make it go away........
Must be good to be in a position to buy your way out of trouble.
Also pretty strongly refutes the theory that he was being scammed.
well you could look at it that way but you could also look at the fact that he wouldve taken advice from a number of stakeholders.. including the ARU and decided that a protracted defence could be damaging to his game at a point where he really needs to make his mark. Who knows what went on behind closed doors.. who was guilty and who was scamming who.. at the end of the day charges were dropped and he can focus on Smashing the AB's and Boks on the paddock.
Mediation isn't a simple process of buying yourself out of trouble, there is quite a bit more to it
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Yup, like paying lawyers, dodging accountability and avoiding bad press.