1969
Bencher
So, after a long wait, the committal hearing has started. After reading this, doesn't bode well for Fields. Plenty more to come I'm sure.
Let's see if our judicial system can get the right verdict, and sentence. It is not like the "king hit" hasn't been shown to be the cowards way to settle argument, or random jokers out for a good time.
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FORMER NRL star Craig Field entered a pub fight and delivered a killer king hit to a man who was not even facing him.
Field had earlier "accosted" the victim's female friend - key Crown witness Lyn Burgher - in one of several heated bar-room exchanges leading up to the alleged one-punch murder.
Field's murder committal hearing, at Lismore Local Court, yesterday heard evidence of "bad blood", including gay slurs and a pie shop fracas, in the lead-up to the fatal fight which claimed the life of Tweed cattle farmer Kelvin Kane.
Field, 40, and co-accused Shaun Fathers, 42, are charged with murdering 50-year-old Mr Kane at Kingscliff Hotel in July last year.
Police allege Field, a former South Sydney Rabbitohs captain who also played for Manly and Wests Tigers, threw the deadly punch but that Fathers was part of the "criminal enterprise".
Ms Burgher said she was at the hotel with friends, including Mr Kane, when she was "accosted" by Field, whom she knew through her ex-partner's rugby league connections.
The court heard Field told Ms Burgher she was a "smart-arse" while Fathers told her she was "nothing but a slut".
"He (Fathers) had his finger up underneath my chin," Ms Burgher said.
"He said something to Craig Field about my gay brother."
Ms Burgher said Fathers was thrown into a police paddy wagon after trying to punch her brother outside a Coolangatta pie shop two months before the pub fight.
The court heard a melee erupted in the Kingscliff Hotel carpark as Mr Kane and Ms Burgher were leaving after their friend was ejected for taunting the bar manager.
Ms Burgher said she saw Fathers being restrained and "scowling" at Mr Kane, who reacted by putting his hands in the air.
"He (Mr Kane) said 'listen mate, I don't want to fight you - I don't even know who you are'," she said.
As Fathers and Mr Kane faced off, Field allegedly came in from behind.
"I could see a blur of a man," Ms Burgher told police. "I saw him punch Kelvin once in the temple. Kelvin was looking at Fathers and didn't see it coming."
Ms Burgher told the court: "I know it was Field … he was in my vision."
Under cross-examination, Ms Burgher rejected suggestions she was drunk or that her memory was affected by emotions.
The hearing continues.
http://www.news.com.au/national/queensland/witness-details-bad-blood-before-deadly-confrontation-with-formernrl-star-craig-field/story-fnii5v6w-1226760213847
Let's see if our judicial system can get the right verdict, and sentence. It is not like the "king hit" hasn't been shown to be the cowards way to settle argument, or random jokers out for a good time.
*******************************
FORMER NRL star Craig Field entered a pub fight and delivered a killer king hit to a man who was not even facing him.
Field had earlier "accosted" the victim's female friend - key Crown witness Lyn Burgher - in one of several heated bar-room exchanges leading up to the alleged one-punch murder.
Field's murder committal hearing, at Lismore Local Court, yesterday heard evidence of "bad blood", including gay slurs and a pie shop fracas, in the lead-up to the fatal fight which claimed the life of Tweed cattle farmer Kelvin Kane.
Field, 40, and co-accused Shaun Fathers, 42, are charged with murdering 50-year-old Mr Kane at Kingscliff Hotel in July last year.
Police allege Field, a former South Sydney Rabbitohs captain who also played for Manly and Wests Tigers, threw the deadly punch but that Fathers was part of the "criminal enterprise".
Ms Burgher said she was at the hotel with friends, including Mr Kane, when she was "accosted" by Field, whom she knew through her ex-partner's rugby league connections.
The court heard Field told Ms Burgher she was a "smart-arse" while Fathers told her she was "nothing but a slut".
"He (Fathers) had his finger up underneath my chin," Ms Burgher said.
"He said something to Craig Field about my gay brother."
Ms Burgher said Fathers was thrown into a police paddy wagon after trying to punch her brother outside a Coolangatta pie shop two months before the pub fight.
The court heard a melee erupted in the Kingscliff Hotel carpark as Mr Kane and Ms Burgher were leaving after their friend was ejected for taunting the bar manager.
Ms Burgher said she saw Fathers being restrained and "scowling" at Mr Kane, who reacted by putting his hands in the air.
"He (Mr Kane) said 'listen mate, I don't want to fight you - I don't even know who you are'," she said.
As Fathers and Mr Kane faced off, Field allegedly came in from behind.
"I could see a blur of a man," Ms Burgher told police. "I saw him punch Kelvin once in the temple. Kelvin was looking at Fathers and didn't see it coming."
Ms Burgher told the court: "I know it was Field … he was in my vision."
Under cross-examination, Ms Burgher rejected suggestions she was drunk or that her memory was affected by emotions.
The hearing continues.
http://www.news.com.au/national/queensland/witness-details-bad-blood-before-deadly-confrontation-with-formernrl-star-craig-field/story-fnii5v6w-1226760213847