Haas’s ‘emotional pain’
Wife was ‘consoling NRL star’
CRIMINAL lawyer Campbell MacCallum claims Brisbane Bronco star Payne Haas was being consoled by his partner when he was arrested at the weekend, saying he is a “gentle giant” who is struggling with grief and sudden stardom.
Broncos boss Paul White has conceded Haas will “suffer the consequences” over the incident, but the club is yet to hand down any punishment as it awaits his court appearance.
Haas, a Kangaroos and Blues representative, was arrested at Tweed Heads on Saturday night and charged with intimidating police and using offensive language after an alleged incident with pregnant partner Leilani Mohenoa.
Mr MacCallum claimed reports of a domestic situation were “completely false”.
“Payne was enjoying a night out with his wife having dinner and a few drinks,” Mr MacCallum said.
“What a lot of the public don’t know is that Payne’s older brother (Chase, 21) passed away last year and Payne has been struggling with a huge amount of grief over this. The passing of his brother added to the pressure of being thrown into the limelight with his rapid rise to rugby league stardom was bubbling to the surface.”
He said Haas has a big family support system and his wife “describes him as shy and the type of person who ‘bottles up’ his emotions”.
“His partner describes him as a gentle giant at all times at home and reports of a domestic situation included in the situation are completely false.”
Mr MacCallum said Haas and Ms Mohenoa were talking “and Payne was upset”.
“His partner was consoling him and trying to settle him down as all of his emotions spilt over,” he said.
“Police were in the area and attending to a wild incident (brawl) about 20m away which had nothing to do with Payne.
“The police approached him out of the blue and started firing questions at him.
“Payne was in a heightened state of emotion, confused and being confronted with many police officers.”
Haas is due to face Tweed Heads Court next month and the Broncos and NRL Integrity Unit are investigating.
Late on Monday, the Broncos said lawyer Dave Garrett would now act for Haas after he represented Kotoni Staggs and Anthony Seibold last year.
Haas was back at training on Monday morning and will be mentored by Broncos legend Petero Civoniceva.
White said any sanction imposed would come after his court proceedings and the
NRL investigation.
“There’s no excuse or tolerance for that type of behaviour,” White said of the allegations.