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http://www.thewest.com.au/default.as...ontentID=48316
Police probe alleged quokka abuse on Rotto
26th November 2007, 7:45 WST
Rottnest police are investigating claims Western Force players mistreated quokkas at the weekend.
The Rottnest Island Authority has confirmed it received a complaint from tourists that players from the State’s top rugby union team were “hammer throwing” the protected animals on Friday night.
It is understood the team were at a training camp at Rottnest’s Kingston Barracks when the alleged mistreatment occurred.
A Western Force spokesman said they were working with police.
Force: ARU knew of settlement
26th November 2007, 8:30 WST
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The Western Force insisted yesterday that the Australian Rugby Union helped facilitate a $16,000 payment to a South African assault victim to enable Wallabies Jeremy Paul and Matt Henjak to return to the republic without fear of arrest.
Paul was blamed for the nightclub incident during the ACT Brumbies’ 2004 tour to South Africa and local police served him with legal papers but Henjak subsequently admitted he was to blame.
South African authorities placed immigration conditions on both players which were lifted only when the Western Force, who recruited Henjak in 2005, paid $16,000 to settle the matter with the victim.
Force boss Peter O’Meara said yesterday the settlement was not secret, as claimed in a Sydney newspaper, but made with the consent of ARU executive Rob Clarke who, at the time of the assault, was chief executive of the Brumbies.
“We only became aware of the matter in early 2006, months after we had recruited Matt,” O’Meara yesterday. “The ARU briefed us on the circumstances and he (Clarke) told me I needed to sort it out. We needed Matt to be able to travel to South Africa and I said Rugby WA would fix it up on Matt’s behalf. At no stage was the payment hidden from the ARU.”
O’Meara confirmed the negotiation with the victim was done by Rugby Union Players’ Association head Tony Dempsey. Clarke has since stepped down as chief operating officer of the ARU. He could not be contacted for comment yesterday.
Henjak feared he would face arrest if he returned to South Africa with the Force in May last year if charges were not dropped. He travelled without restriction and started at scrum-half in the Force’s first Super 14 win, over the Cheetahs at Kimberley.
The Force board will meet this afternoon to discuss the avalanche of negative publicity about the club and decide whether to proceed with civil action against former chief financial officer David Round alleging breaches of confidentiality.
The Force have asked Round to agree by 5pm to certain conditions or they will sue him. Round’s solicitors have previously said the allegations would be denied.
O’Meara denied knowledge of an alleged assault at a Darling Harbour bar earlier this year involving Force players. He said he had questioned those who went out after the Super 14 draw with the Waratahs in Sydney last March and all denied the claim, which NSW police are investigating.
DAVE HUGHES