From left, Mesepa Salesa, Josh Papali’i and barrister Anthony Williamson SC leave the ACT Courts on Wednesday (18 June). Photo: Albert McKnight.
Violence inflicted by spectators at sports games “must be deterred”, a magistrate said when sentencing the wife of a Canberra Raiders legend for attacking two female rugby league players on a football field.
Raiders’ prop Josh Papali’i raised his middle finger towards the media outside the ACT Magistrates Court when he was driving his car away after his wife, Mesepa Salesa, was sentenced on Wednesday (18 June).
In July 2024, Salesa was watching a rugby league game at the Kippax Raiders Club in Holt when a 17-year-old was sent off the field.
Closed-circuit television footage (CCTV) showed Salesa walking onto the field, in front of numerous people watching in the stands, to meet the teenager after she had been sent off.
She punched the teen in the chest, tried to strike her, pushed her and dragged her before others intervened.
Also, when an adult female player intervened, Salesa lunged at her, pulled her jersey over her head, struck her and pulled her towards the ground.
The court heard that this player’s five-year-old son witnessed the attack on his mother.
“This incident has left a lasting impact on me and my family,” the player told the court.
Salesa, 32, pleaded guilty to two counts of common assault, but her lawyers asked for the charges to be dismissed due to her mental health conditions or for her to be handed a non-conviction order.
Defence barrister Anthony Williamson SC said she had been diagnosed with major depressive disorder as well as anxious/distress adjustment disorder, and just one week before the incident, she had received what she called “absolutely shattering” news about a family member.
Magistrate Alexandra Burt accepted Salesa had a mental impairment, had no prior criminal history and appeared to be a contributing member of the community.
The magistrate also accepted she had taken responsibility for her actions, was genuinely remorseful and it seemed she had been in an emotionally difficult period of her life at the time.
Mesepa Salesa approaches the ACT Courts with her husband, Canberra Raiders prop Josh Papali’i. Photo: Albert McKnight.
Raiders coach Ricky Stuart wrote a statement for the court attesting to Salesa’s family-oriented nature and support of her husband.
But Magistrate Burt also noted the assaults took place in public, in daylight, at a football match and that one of the victims was a child.
She thought the assaults would have been “entirely unexpected” and noted “the very real impact” on the victims and their families.
The magistrate did accept that Salesa suffered a degree of extra-curial punishment due to her 10-year ban from amateur rugby league games in Canberra following the incident. But she also said the ban was an appropriate and natural consequence of engaging in violence at a football game.
Magistrate Burt said it was not appropriate to dismiss the charges on mental health grounds, nor for her to be given a non-conviction order.
Salesa was convicted and sentenced to a 15-month good behaviour order with six months of supervision by Corrective Services. However, as she was 38 weeks pregnant, supervision will begin in November.
Media had asked to obtain the CCTV of the attacks, but Magistrate Burt said she was concerned the footage could identify the 17-year-old and refused to release it.
@Penfold PS Oh and being called a liar by the head of another ally - that's certainly embarassing on… View