Ex-NRL player Curtis Scott has failed in an appeal to overturn convictions for assaulting and threatening his former partner, long-jumper Tay-Leiha Clark.
Attempts by Scott's lawyers to discredit Clark's evidence were rejected by Judge Alister Abadee at Sydney's Downing Centre District Court on Friday.
Judge Abadee told the court he accepted the pair's relationship was "punctuated by emotional abuse ... born of jealousy".
He found Scott's jealousy was fuelled by images Clark posted to her Instagram, fears she would leave him and a belief she was the reason for his troubles.
Scott, 25, was visibly frustrated in court with Judge Abadee's findings, turning at one stage and whispering to supporters - for which he was told by the judge not to interrupt.
He told media outside court he was disappointed by the result and stands by who he is as a person.
Scott's legal team are not expected to pursue a possible further appeal in the Supreme Court.
Having shown immense promise during his younger career, a series of injuries and off-field incidents led to Scott being let go from the Melbourne Storm and Canberra Raiders, having accompanied the Storm to their 2017 premiership.
On Australia Day 2020, Scott was tasered and arrested following a night out partying at Sydney’s Ivy nightclub, but was ultimately awarded $100,000 and the charges were dropped after a magistrate ruled police’s actions against him were unnecessary.
The following year he was he was involved in an alleged pub altercation and again charged with assault, which resulted in him being dropped from the Raiders' squad.
Last year Scott was found guilty of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, common assault and intimidation against former partner Clark. He was sentenced to a 12-month community corrections order and fined $1400.
The sentence took into account the cancellation of Scott's NRL contract after the allegations emerged in 2021 and his inability to play top level rugby league in the future.
Scott admits he and Clark had a turbulent relationship but maintains did never assaulted or threatened to kill her.
In appealing the convictions, Scott's lawyers argued among other things there were questions of reliability and inconsistencies within Clark’s evidence that were not sufficiently taken into account during the trial.
It took Clark about two-and-a-half years from the date of the last incident before she went to police, which the court heard was partly out of concern for Scott's wellbeing.
During the original court hearing, Magistrate Daniel Covington found Scott had put his hand on Clark's neck and "launched" her over a lounge into a wall, during a 2018 incident at her parents' Sylvania home in Sydney's south, which left her with grazes and an egg-sized lump on her head.
The pair's relationship was “on and off” in the lead-up to the assault, the court was told, and Scott had became enraged, telling Clark, "You’re going to f***ing leave me. Why are you like this?”
In another incident while the pair were holidaying on the NSW south coast, the former centre "charged" at Clark after they got into an argument, knocking her to the ground.
Scott was also convicted of intimidating Clark over the phone after the pair broke up, with the magistrate accepting he told her "f*** you, I'm going to kill you. You're such a f***ing slut" and also threatened to kill himself, before driving his vehicle into a tree.
Judge Abadee described Scott’s actions as self-pitying and vengeful.
“During a final act of elevated emotional abuse he made a death threat to the complainant," he said.
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