It only took a few seconds of CCTV footage from a Canberra nightclub to derail the criminal case against NRL players Jack Wighton and Latrell Mitchell.
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The exonerating video was discovered by the pair's defence teams and played for the ACT Magistrates Court last week, ending a heavily publicised hearing that appeared set to last several more days.
The Canberra Times has acquired the Fiction nightclub CCTV that blindsided prosecutors, who it's understood hadn't received the key angle as part of a police brief of evidence.
Like every journalist present, the case's prosecutor watched the footage for the first time in the courtroom.
"That's the off-screen footage you've been wishing you had, isn't it?" barrister Steven Boland asked the senior police officer who oversaw Mr Wighton and Mr Mitchell's arrests in February.
"Yes, I believe so," Sergeant David Power, whose evidence was contradicted by the video, responded from the witness stand.
Before the previously unseen footage, the court heard Sergeant Power had observed Mr Wighton engaging in "violent conduct" as the officer walked down nightclub's stairs.
"As I entered the first floor of the licensed premises, I saw a person wearing a red shirt pushing another male, this male was later identified as Jack Wighton," Sergeant Power wrote in his statement.
"I saw Mr Wighton's expression to show that he was upset and angry, I saw that he had clenched fists and as I got closer, I saw him hold another male close to him."
Sergeant Power would use this alleged behaviour as grounds to kick Mr Wighton out of the nightclub on his 30th birthday and order another officer to give the NRL player an exclusion direction from the city area.
The initial angle, shot from behind a bar, played for the court showed Mr Wighton speaking to two men before moving left and off-screen for a few seconds.
The senior police officer was said to have been the only person or camera which saw or captured what happened in those crucial few seconds.
What followed the unseen footage being played in court was a heated exchange between Mr Boland and the police officer, who eventually admitted it appeared he given false evidence.
"This is the key footage of where you say disorderly, antisocial, potential criminality is, correct?" Mr Boland asked during cross-examination.
Sergeant Power responded: "Well, that's where I thought it happened, apparently."
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"Right. Before we worked out that it couldn't possibly be true then?" Mr Boland said.
The officer responded: "Yes. It must have been something else I saw."
The court dismissed several charges the following day, including fighting in a public place, against Mr Wighton and Mr Mitchell.
Barristers Jack Pappas and Mr Boland had both argued the exclusion direction given to Mr Wighton and the subsequent arrests of both NRL players were unlawful.
It's understood the case against Mr Mitchell and Mr Wighton was last week referred to the AFP's Professional Standards team, which can investigate serious misconduct and corruption matters.
Sergeant Power is currently on leave.
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