A former NRL referee has been found guilty of assaulting students at an Alice Springs school.
Gavin Morris officiated in 98 first-grade NRL matches between 2010-15 and became principal of Yipirinya School in 2021, an independent school for indigenous children in Alice Springs.
On Wednesday, Morris was found guilty of four counts of aggravated assault against students in 2023 and 2024 in Alice Springs Local Court.
The charges included choking a student, putting another in a chokehold, and dragging two students by their ears.
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During the proceedings which ran for almost two weeks, the defence stated Morris had merely been trying to restrain students who were getting into fights and misbehaving.
Judge Anthony Hopkins rejected those arguments, explaining that while ‘certain restraint can be justified as a defence’ it did not apply in Morris’ case.
“Grabbing a student by the throat and making it difficult to breathe is not justified behaviour,” he said.
Following testimony from students and Yipirinya staff members, Morris was also found to have used racial slurs against the students during two of the incidents.
Those included Morris calling one student a ‘little black c***’.
Morris was released on bail and is due to be sentenced on December 8.
In 2014 Morris was suspended for two premiership rounds by the NRL and slapped with a $5,000 suspended fine for punching touch judge Terry Pascoe at a new year’s eve party.