AFL
2 months ago
Lawyer of Balta victim says troubled Tiger deserves second chance
By SEN
The lawyer of the victim in the Noah Balta assault case thinks that the Tiger deserves a second chance.
John Suta from John Suta Legal says that Balta has made amends with the victim of the Mulwala Water Ski Club attack in December, Thomas Washbrook, after settling the civil case.
Given that Balta presented himself to police and pleaded guilty in court, Suta thinks that Balta is worthy of a second chance now that he's going through the necessary steps to address his behaviour.
“He presented himself to police the following day, made full admissions and pleaded guilty at the first opportunity,” Suta said on ABC Radio.
“He appropriately settled my client’s claim for damages in the civil jurisdiction and has made amends.
“He conducted himself as a model litigant in the matter… he deserves a second chance.”
Balta was selected to play for Richmond's in Saturday night's clash against Gold Coast after serving a six-week in-club suspension which meant he missed two pre-season games and the opening four rounds.
After sitting out Gather Round despite being available to play, Tigers coach Adem Yze said Balta was ready to earn the respect of the AFL community back,
“He’s served his suspension, we went really hard in doing so and he’s been dealing with that for three months," Yze said on Wednesday.
“He missed another game of footy, we suspended him for four (home and away games) and now he’s had five weeks out – we’ve got to make sure we’re looking after the player as well.
“As I have said all along, that’s been a discussion we had with the AFL at the start of this process.
“He’s been working on himself and he can’t wait to try and earn the respect back of not only us as a club and his teammates but our supporters and the AFL community.”
While he's returning to the AFL, the 25-year-old faces a sentence-hearing in four days time after the attack.
Balta is facing up to five years in jail.
