Happy days: Quade Cooper is a free man
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Reds and Wallabies fly-half Quade Cooper is off the hook after having his burglary charge dropped in a Gold Coast court on Friday .
The 22-year-old Cooper did not appear in court on Friday, where police offered no evidence against him on allegations he stole two laptop computers from a residence in Surfers Paradise on December 6.
Cooper's lawyers said the withdrawal of the charge followed completion of a justice mediation process which was confidential "and the parties cannot elaborate on the content or details of the events nor the process which has led to this outcome."
The Reds playmaker, who has appeared in fifteen Tests for Australia, was training in Sydney on Friday with the Wallabies and is expected to be named on the team which will play South Africa next Saturday in a Tri-Nations match in Brisbane.
With proceedings against Cooper now removed from the courts, Australian Rugby Union has conducted an internal review it said in a statement released on Friday.
The ARU has taken into account negative publicity for the game and a failure by Cooper late last month to inform ARU of a further court appearance related to a traffic infringement.
Cooper has been fined AUS$ 7500 (£4350) and will remain involved in support and monitoring programs instituted at the start of the year.
"We're pleased Quade has had this issue resolved and can now look to move forward," said ARU High Performance Unit General Manager David Nucifora.
"I want to thank everyone who's helped me during what has been a challenging time, particularly family and close friends," said Cooper.
"I'm glad I can now just concentrate on playing well for Australia."
Comments
tribeg says...
Not too sure the description of the charges being dropped is entirely accurate? Having read the local papers on Friday "mediation" is part of the QLD judicial system and all parties must agree to it. What comes out of the process is confidential. Obviously some agreement was reached ... but this does not mean Cooper is innocent.
In any event Deans should probably play him as a loose forward with a specific role to pinch the ball ... he seems well qulaified for this type of role;0))
Posted 15:19 17th July 2010
elevenmonths says...
urgent:
to Bok team next week:
coaching staff please hang on to your laptops and keep an eye on the kicking tee.
besides you have nothing better to do anyway.
Posted 12:51 17th July 2010