Wallabies winger seeks to avoid conviction

Wallabies winger Digby Ioane will try to avoid conviction over a Melbourne hotel assault by seeking to be placed on a court diversion program.

Wallabies winger Digby Ioane will seek to be placed on a court diversion program so he can avoid conviction over an assault at a Melbourne hotel.

Ioane, 28, appeared briefly in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Tuesday charged with unlawfully assaulting a man in Prahran on March 9 this year.

His brother Jayson Ioane, 30, is facing the same charge.

A lawyer for the pair, Angelo Venardos, indicated he would seek to have them placed on a diversion program which allows a first-time offender to acknowledge responsibility and be released without conviction.

Diversion orders also often have other conditions attached such as writing a letter of apology to the victim.

The pair will return to the court on August 22 to be assessed for diversion.

An arrest warrant was issued for Ioane after he failed to front the court in June, days before the second British and Irish Lions Test.

At the time Australian Rugby Union boss Bill Pulver described the warrant issue as "a storm in a teacup".

The Queensland Reds suspended Ioane for one week in March after details emerged he and his older brother were involved in a scuffle reportedly over an iPhone at the Mount Erica Hotel.

Victorian police formally charged Ioane on summons on May 17, when the 27-year-old was on tour in South Africa with the Reds.


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Source: AAP


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