The magistrate who convicted NRL star Sam Burgess of intimidating his former father-in-law Mitch Hooke had several family links to two of Mr Hooke’s daughters.
Mr Hooke raised the connections in a late-night email to police less than 12 hours before magistrate Robert Rabbidge was to announce whether he had found Burgess guilty.
Burgess was convicted on Friday of intimidating Mr Hooke during a fierce confrontation at the family’s home near Bowral in New South Wales‘ Southern Highlands on October 19, 2019.
Daily Mail Australia has seen the email and its contents are published here with the names and relationships between some of the parties removed for legal reasons.
Burgess was married to Mr Hooke’s daughter Phoebe, with whom he has two young children, until their messy divorce.
Phoebe has two sisters – Harriet and Jemima.
Sam Burgess’s former father-in-law Mitch Hooke sent an email to police the night before Burgess was found guilty of intimidating him. Mr Hooke raised links between his family and the magistrate who was to decide Burgess’ fate
Mr Hooke said his daughter Jemima, pictured with her husband Gene Fairbanks, had once attended a birthday party at magistrate Robert Rabbidge’s home
Magistrate Robert Rabbidge found Sam Burgess (pictured) had intimidated his father-in-law Mitch Hooke during a heated clash on October 19, 2019 about two weeks after he broke up with wife Phoebe
Mr Hooke alleged Jemima and her husband Gene Fairbanks had once been close to Mr Rabbidge’s son Scott and his longtime partner Rachael Mannell.
He said in the email tendered in Moss Vale Local Court that Jemima had once even attended a birthday party at Mr Rabbidge’s home.
‘The two families were quite close friends until the relationship broke down in rather strange and regrettably acrimonious circumstances initiated by Rachael,’ he wrote.
Mr Hooke also stated Ms Mannell once worked with Phoebe at Cleo magazine where their boss was editor-in-chief Sharri Markson.
Markson was the author of stories published last year in The Australian newspaper which accused Burgess of domestic violence and drug use during his marriage to Phoebe.
Mr Hooke and Phoebe have both admitted helping Markson produce those articles in October last year but denied they did so to destroy Burgess’s reputation.
The intimidation charge against Burgess stemmed from a confrontation 12 months earlier at the Hooke family home in the New South Wales Southern Highlands.
The court on Friday also heard a transcript detailing a conversation between Burgess and police three hours after the 2019 confrontation with Mr Hooke.
During the exchange, Burgess denied yelling or being aggressive towards Mr Hooke, claiming ‘Mitchell was the aggressor’.
Before Mr Rabbidge could deliver his verdict on Friday, prosecutor Jamie Palmer handed up the email Mr Hooke had sent police at 10.41pm the previous night.
Mr Hooke sent the email to Senior Constable Simone Houghton, the officer-in-charge of the case, at 10.41pm the night before magistrate Robert Rabbidge was to determine Burgess’s fate
Mr Hooke wrote the note to Senior Constable Simone Houghton, the officer-in-charge of the case, and suggested its contents be referred to Inspector Palmer.
The email followed an earlier conversation in which he disclosed links between his family and Mr Rabbidge which he had previously not recalled.
‘As has been the situation throughout the course of this case I again find myself in circumstances of which I have no legal knowledge and certainly no experience,’ Mr Hooke wrote.
Mr Hooke stated that magistrate Robert Rabbidge’s daughter-in-law once worked with his daughter Phoebe at Cleo magazine where their boss was Sharri Markson (pictured)
‘I raised the matter with you on the basis of full disclosure such that you and if applicable Jamie would know what to do if anything.
‘If I had been told this relationship existed by my family prior to me realising this a few days ago, it simply didn’t register.’
Mr Hooke said he presumed it would be incumbent upon a magistrate ‘to declare a connection and any perceived bias more so than a witness or victim.’
‘I have no desire nor indeed any basis or motive to call into question the integrity of His Honour,’ he wrote.
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Mr Hooke accepted it was possible Mr Rabbidge ‘does not know of or recall his son and daughter-in-law’s relationship with me and members of my family.’
That was despite his daughter Jemima and other members of her family attending a birthday party in his home.
‘…Whether he believed it was necessary to disclose in these proceedings is a matter for His Honour and not for me,’ Mr Hooke wrote.
Mr Hooke said his daughter Jemima and her husband Gene Fairbanks had once been close to magistrate Robert Rabbidge’s son Scott and his longtime partner Rachael Mannell (both pictured)
Mitchell Hooke pictured with Phoebe. He said in the email tendered in Moss Vale Local Court that Jemima had once even attended a birthday party at Mr Rabbidge’s home
‘From a mere layman’s perspective, given that much was made of my daughter’s and my credit worthiness as witnesses I’d have thought that if His Honour was in fact aware of the family connections that this might be a matter relevant to the parties.’
Burgess’s solicitor Bryan Wrench described Mr Hooke’s email as ‘an attempt to undermine the integrity of this court.’
Mr Rabbidge acknowledged some old links between the Hooke family and his, including that Ms Mannell had once worked at Cleo.
He said his son’s partner, Ms Mannell, had not worked in magazines for eight or nine years and he did not know her media friends.
Mitch Hooke and his daughter Phoebe (pictured) have both admitted helping produce newspaper articles accusing Sam Burgess of domestic violence and drug use but denied they did so to destroy his reputation
‘I’ve lived in this region for 23 years,’ Mr Rabbidge said. ‘I’m well familiar with literally thousands of people.’
He said judicial officers ‘do not live in a vacuum’ and he was not biased, before proceeding to his decision to convict Burgess.
Mr Rabbidge found Burgess had intimidated Mr Hooke during the heated clash in October, 2019 about two weeks after he broke up with Phoebe.
He accepted the evidence of Mr Hooke that Burgess had threatened him by saying ‘you’re a f***king piece of s***, I’m going to get you’.
He rejected Burgess’s evidence that his father-in-law had threatened to destroy him.
Burgess was sentenced to a two-year community corrections order and given a two-year apprehended violence order.
The onetime South Sydney captain said he was ‘confused’ by the decision to find him guilty and would be appealing against his conviction.
Mr Wrench added: ‘He’s innocent, we will go all the way if necessary. He’s done nothing wrong.’
Mr Hooke declined to comment on the court decision when contacted by Daily Mail Australia.
‘No thanks,’ he said. ‘I think the magistrate has said it all and we’re just going to leave it at that.’
