Former Wallabies star Rocky Elsom flees Ireland fearing extradition

Former Wallabies captain Rocky Elsom, pictured in 2011, says the charges against him are an unjustified bid to hold him responsible for the Narbonne club’s finances. Photo / Photosport

Rocky Elsom decided it was best he wasn’t home when Irish authorities knocked on his door.

The former Wallabies skipper told the Sydney Morning Herald he left before they arrived at his home in Dublin in October, with plans to execute a European arrest warrant and extradite him to France.

“The gardai came to where I worked, came to my home, with the intention of taking me into custody,” Elsom said.

Elsom was tipped off by news reports that he had been sentenced to five years in jail after a French court found him guilty of misusing corporate assets while president of French club Narbonne.

The rugby star is now in hiding, location unknown, and is facing what is labelled by supporters as a miscarriage of justice.

He told the Sydney Morning Herald all he could reveal of his whereabouts was that he is no longer in Ireland.

“All I can say is I spoke to the gardai and they said if I’m in Ireland they’ll have to bring me in,” Elsom said. “So I told them I wasn’t in Ireland and I wasn’t going to be in Ireland any time soon.”

He also did not disclose how he had left the country, but the Sydney Morning Herald suggests it would only have been possible for him not to be apprehended by being picked up was to cross the border into Northern Ireland, which is an hour from Dublin by car.

Elsom, who was at Narbonne from 2013-16, was convicted in absentia and an international warrant has been issued for his arrest. He was also ordered to pay back €700,000 ($1.25 million).

He told the Sydney Morning Herald he is prepared to answer the charges. He is adamant they do not stack up and that it is an unjustified bid to hold him responsible for the club’s finances.

He said he is aware of traditional delays in the French legal system and he fears being detained at length in France awaiting an appeal. He said it was only this week that he received documents detailing the charges against him.

Elsom is laying low while he engages a French lawyer to oppose the finding against him in the criminal court in Narbonne - a hearing has been scheduled for November 15.

“I have to go outside at some point but I am keeping my head down, that’s for sure,” he said. “I’ve just got to try and normalise it to a degree ... be able to get enough sunlight or do some exercise. Because this is month one. In a way, the attack on me has been going on for eight years so you wouldn’t put it past them to be going on for months and months,” Elsom told the Sydney Morning Herald.

He said he was shocked to learn he had been put on trial and that he could not defend himself.

“Not informing me, not allowing me to be there, running a rumour campaign for eight years ... the most concerning thing is thinking that it was intentional ... that it was intentionally done to make things harder for me,” he said.

“The important thing to remember is if I am in custody, my defence gets a lot more expensive and a lot harder. If I’m detained, I’ll need to engage a lawyer to do everything for me ... all the phone conversations, to try and find documents, to talk to people, to try and defend myself.”

He told the Sydney Morning Herald he was hopeful the Australian Government would examine his case.

“If an Australian citizen is unlikely to get a fair trial in a foreign country then at the very least I think they are obliged to look into it,” he said.