Shannon Michael Frizell, 27, attacked a man, and slapped and punched a woman during the late-night incident on May 9. Photo / ODT
An All Black who committed three assaults in the Octagon has side-stepped convictions after completing diversion.
Shannon Michael Frizell, 27, attacked a man, and slapped and punched a woman during the late-night incident on May 9, then followed it up with an abusive social-media message to a friend of one of the victims.
"F*** you b**** tell your friend to hide I'm gonna f*** everyone's up f*** with the wrong guy," (sic) it read.
Frizell's case was called before the Dunedin District Court this morning though his attendance was excused.
Prosecutor Sergeant Chris George confirmed the Highlanders star had completed the terms of his diversion and the two charges of assaulting a woman and one of common assault were formally dismissed by Judge Peter Rollo.
Because there was no formal guilty plea entered, there was never a summary of facts outlining the details of the violence tendered to the court.
After Frizell's first court hearing in July, he apologised outside court and said he would "now try to do everything I can to restore people's faith in me".
"I already have put a plan in place with counsellors to help me address areas I want to work on."
The words were scant consolation to the mother of his female victim.
She told the Otago Daily Times Frizell had "walked away with nothing more than a slap on the hand".
"[My daughter] has been disregarded and his full actions have been dismissed," she said.
"The man put fear into my girl and that's been the worse thing to see."
Despite only being stood down for one game, Frizell has not played for the All Blacks since initially appearing in court.
And coach Ian Foster dropped the loose forward from his squad of 35 for the Rugby Championship, named at the end of last month, confirming it was linked to the criminal proceeding.
''It's related to his visa access into Australia. He's still got aspects to work through regarding his court case — which we're really confident he will. In the meantime, he's got some things to do with that,'' Foster said.
