Fed: Stewart returns to NRL action after not guilty plea

AAP General News (Australia)
04-07-2009
Fed: Stewart returns to NRL action after not guilty plea

By Doug Conway, Senior Correspondent

SYDNEY, April 7 AAP - Brett Stewart will make his first appearance for troubled NRL
premiers Manly this weekend after facing court on sexual assault charges he plans to fight.

The dumped face of rugby league looked taut and drawn when he appeared for the first
time in Manly local court on Tuesday.

His case has been adjourned until May 26 to the Downing Centre local court, the same
central Sydney court that recently handed down a suspended jail sentence to swimmer Nick
D'Arcy.

D'Arcy's assault case took a year, despite the swimmer's guilty plea.

Stewart has pleaded not guilty to offences relating to a 17-year-old girl allegedly
committed after a booze-fuelled season launch last month.

He is charged with having sexual intercourse without the consent of the teenager between
7.45pm and 8.05pm on March 6 at North Manly.

He is also charged with assault with an act of indecency, namely that he "forced his
tongue into her mouth".

Magistrate Margaret Quinn continued Stewart's bail and excused him from appearing in
May if he was legally represented.

Ms Quinn also extended by three months an apprehended violence order (AVO) banning
Stewart from approaching or contacting the teenager.

Wearing a dark suit and striped tie, Stewart entered the court after emerging from
a silver BMW with his lawyer and making a speedy line-break through a thick media scrum.

He was inside the brown-brick Manly courthouse for an hour, though his hearing was
over in a few minutes.

Stewart did not speak.

His not guilty pleas were delivered by his lawyer as the 24-year-old Manly star sat
quietly in court.

He made no comment as he left the court, head down through the media throng and back
to his waiting car.

Stewart will make his return to the football field this Sunday at Brookvale against
Wests Tigers, and how his club needs him.

The reigning NRL and world champions sit at the bottom of the table after suffering
four defeats during his NRL-enforced, month-long absence.

Manly has selected Stewart to play this week, with coach Des Hasler and chief executive
Grant Mayer both insisting Stewart is definitely "okay in the mind" to take the field
on Sunday.

Captain Matt Orford says the four-match ban for being drunk in public has "stung" Stewart,
adding: "He'll be itching to get out there and do what he does best - score some tries."

AAP dc/jl/de

KEYWORD: STEWART WRAP (PIX AVAILABLE)

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