Japan loose forward Amanaki Mafi has been discharged without conviction but ordered to pay £25,720 pounds after he pled guilty to assaulting former team mate Lopeti Timani in New Zealand in 2018, local media reported on Tuesday.
The 29-year-old’s case was called into the Dunedin District Court on Tuesday in his absence where a guilty plea was entered to one count of assaulting Wallabies loose forward Timani with intent to injure.
Amanaki Lelei Mafi agrees to pay Lopeti Timani $50,000 and avoids assault conviction.
— Rich Freeman (@FreemanrugbyJPN) December 17, 2019
Judge said documents showed there was an appreciable risk Mafi would lose his Japanese rugby contract if convicted.#rugbyjphttps://t.co/zPgbLzvDN5
Judge John MacDonald granted a discharge without conviction and stated that it should not be suggested that Mafi had “somehow bought [his] way out of a conviction”.
The case stems from the night following the Melbourne Rebels’ 43-37 defeat at the hands of the Highlanders at Forsyth Barr Stadium on July 14 last year, in a loss which ended the Australian side’s hopes of qualifying for the Super Rugby play-offs.