'Poison at the root' of investigation into Jack Wighton and Latrell Mitchell's alleged fight, barrister claims

A senior police officer involved in the arrest of two NRL stars has been blasted by a defence barrister who claimed he tried to have the pair convicted knowing there was “poison at the root” of the police investigation.

The South Sydney Rabbitohs’ Latrell Mitchell and Jack Wighton are in the ACT Magistrates Court contesting charges laid over an incident outside the Canberra nightclub Fiction in the early hours of 5 February 2023.

When Wighton’s barrister, Steven Boland, was cross-examining Sergeant David Power on Tuesday (31 October), he claimed the latter’s actions after the incident had been “orchestrated”.

The sergeant said that was not correct, but Mr Boland claimed he had tried to have the two NRL players convicted “when you knew that there was poison at the root”. Sergeant Power denied this, too.

Mr Boland said the statement of facts, a document that describes the allegations in a case, had been compiled by a group of police officers under his leadership during a discussion after the incident.

He questioned the sergeant why he mixed nine police officers, who were eyewitnesses to the incident, in a room to discuss the allegations, saying it would be a bad idea to put nine civilians in a room to talk about what happened.

“I don’t know if it was unprofessional, but I can understand why you would see it that way,” Sergeant Power said.

“It’s definitely not the best way to do things.”

He could not recall if anyone was taking notes during the meeting and accepted they may have agreed on the terminology used in the allegations, although he did not recall actually doing so.

By going to that meeting, Mr Boland also accused Sergeant Power of leaving an area of the city centre “unpoliced” by taking his team for a “pow-wow” during what he claimed would be a peak hour for anti-social conduct, being around 4 am on a Sunday.

The sergeant said he believed he had arranged for other police resources to go to the area. He also thought there would be a lot of “media interest” in the arrests and knew it would be scrutinised.

While the statement of facts said police had been looking to identify a large number of witnesses to the incident, Sergeant Power accepted he hadn’t found any of these witnesses.

Mr Boland suggested he had “misbehaved in this case from the word go”.

Sergeant Power said he hadn’t but said, “I could have done things differently in hindsight”.

A first constable then told the court he had seen Sergeant Power say something to Wighton in Fiction before the latter walked towards him with his hands up.

He escorted Wighton outside, gave him an exclusion direction and he walked off with his friends.

Some time later, the constable claimed he heard “aggressive voices” coming from a group on the street, although he couldn’t hear what was said.

The constable said it looked like Wighton and another man were gripping each other while others were trying to separate them before Wighton walked off.

He alleged the other man he later learned was Mitchell pushed a random person standing on the street, so he ran towards him, grabbed him and tried to arrest him.

Mitchell ended up on the ground on his stomach, “yelling out, crying out, in opposition”, the constable said.

When the hearing began on Monday (30 October), the court heard it alleged police had taken Wighton outside Fiction and directed him to leave the area.

He walked away but allegedly began pushing, shoving and grappling with Mitchell on the street.

Bystanders allegedly separated them and Wighton walked away but was followed by Mitchell, who then shoved another person.

CCTV then showed numerous police officers swarming Mitchell on Bunda Street to arrest him. Meanwhile, Wighton was nearby and was allegedly reminded by officers he was subject to an exclusion direction, but he told them something like, “Lock me up with him. You’re f-wits”.

Wighton was charged with fighting in a public place and failing to comply with an exclusion direction. Mitchell was also charged with fighting in a public place, as well as affray and resisting a territory public official.

Both pleaded not guilty. The hearing will continue on Wednesday.