Footy star is cleared in court after punching road rager
Written by on May 25, 2023
A former footy star has been cleared of assaulting a man during a road rage incident after a court found he was acting in defence of his family and the driver’s evidence was unreliable.
Former player Michael Kenneth Spence was cleared of assault occasioning actual bodily harm after engaging in a brutal fist fight on March 4 last year with a driver near the Toormina Hotel, in Coffs Harbour on ‘s Mid-North coast.
Coffs Harbour Local Court heard Spence’s wife Hayley was driving the pair back to their Bonville home when they were tailgated by driver Jacub Scofield.
Mrs Spence told the court on Monday she pulled over as soon as possible to allow Scofield to pass but he did a U-turn and headed straight back towards the couple.
Holding back tears, Mrs Spence told the court Scofield then circled their car three or four times before accelerating away, narrowly missing them.
Former NRL player Michael Spence has been cleared of assault as the court determined he acted in defence of his family during a road rage incident on NSW’s mid north coast
Scofield told the court he was turning back to check on the Spence family’s car.
However Spence told the court he was ‘scared’ and got out of his car to protect his family.
‘He fishtailed up the road and did a burnout, sliding his car and headed straight back towards us – he was coming straight towards our car,’ Spence told the court, as reported by
‘I got out, I was pretty scared, and stood in front of the car.’
The court heard Scofield threw the first punch which narrowly missed Spence’s head.
Spence then retaliated, punching Scofield ‘three or four times’, the court heard.
‘I reacted and threw a few punches – the first two were pretty flush straight to the face,’ he told the court.
Scofield claimed to police he was hit ‘up to 30 times’, in evidence later deemed by Magistrate Clare Farnan as unreliable.
Photos tendered to court – which were taken at Coffs Harbour Police Station on the night of the incident – showed Scofield had blood on his face and shirt.
Scofield said he did not know who Spence was at the time of the scuffle.
The court heard Mr Spence and his wife were returning from a local hotel when they were tailgated and then approached by Jacub Scofield with a scuffle ensuing with Magistrate Clare Farnan ruling he retaliated in self defence
The incident occurred on March 4, 2022 in Bonville (pictured). Mr Spence had an illustrious playing career for the Brisbane Broncos from 2010 to 2017 and even tried his hand at amateur boxing
Magistrate Spence told the court there were issues with the reliability of Scofield and therefore she placed a great deal of doubt on his account.
As a result, Spence was found not guilty of the charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm on Monday.
Spence had an illustrious playing career for the Brisbane Broncos from 2010 to 2017.
Following his NRL career he also had a short stint in amateur boxing.
The former footy star was also a sergeant-at-arms for the Hells Angels bikies.
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