Former NRL star John Hopoate insists he did nothing wrong despite being slapped with a $400 fine for threatening a "wannabe cop" who tried to give him a parking ticket.
Hopoate last month pleaded guilty to intimidating the Sydney ranger early one Saturday morning in June.
On Tuesday barrister Julieanne Levick told his sentencing hearing he was a "good, religious family man" who regretted his actions.
But asked outside court if he'd learned his lesson, a defiant Hopoate told reporters: "There was no lesson to be learned because I did nothing wrong."
Police facts allege the sports star abused and stood over Anthony Bugge while he wrote a ticket for the former player's silver BMW in Potts Point.
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When Mr Bugge told him to step back, Hopoate allegedly replied: "Go ahead you little faggot. Touch my car and you'll f***** cop it."
Dressed in jeans, a tight white shirt and waistcoat, Hopoate told reporters the ranger had provoked him, but he would swallow the $400 fine without complaint.
"I regretted abusing him but he's a wannabe cop who was trying to be someone he's not," he said.
"I was trying to be nice to him and he was talking down to me like I was nothing, so I lost it, which I shouldn't have.
"But I did, and I was very happy with my result."
Ms Levick told the Downing Centre Local Court Hopoate had only parked illegally because "parking is at a premium" around the clubs of Kings Cross, where he works as a security guard to support his 10 children.
"And you've got a parking officer who stuck his fingers up and blew a kiss," she said.
Magistrate Jan Stevenson said Mr Bugge had just been doing his job.
"Here's a man who was going about what he was required to do and he was threatened because he had inconvenienced someone," she said.
