Seething Canberra Raiders CEO Don Furner has revealed the ACT Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions’ extraordinary push for NRL star Jack Wighton to publicly apologise following his arrest alongside Latrell Mitchell in February outside a nightclub.

Both Wighton and Mitchell saw all charges dropped earlier this week in the ACT Magistrates Court, 24 hours after a senior police officer involved in their arrests admitted to giving false evidence to the court.

The high profile pair, who are distant cousins and will be teammates at the South Sydney Rabbitohs next season, were cleared after Sergeant David Power – the supervisor of a group of officers involved in the alleged incident – conceded his version of events from the night in question was inaccurate.

Sergeant Power also told the court he had a ‘memory issue’ before denying he ‘invented’ evidence.

The sergeant later apologised to Wighton in court.

Wighton and Mitchell saw all charges dropped earlier this week in the ACT Magistrates Court, after a senior police officer involved in their arrests admitted to providing false evidence 

And now a furious Furner has told the Sydney Morning Herald how the DPP in the nation’s capital pushed hard for Wighton to publicly admit his supposed wrongdoing well ahead of the court date.

A letter was sent to Furner back in June, which read: ‘The prosecution considers there are reasonable prospects of success in this matter, and it is in the public interest for the prosecution of your client [Wighton] to continue.

‘Should your client be willing to plead guilty to both charges, and issue a public apology to both the responding police and the community for his alleged conduct, the prosecution would not be heard against a submission that your client is remorseful and should be shown some leniency by the court on sentence.

‘Of course, your client would also be able to ask for leniency from the sentencing court on the basis that he has not required the matter to progress to a full contested hearing, this saving court time and public resources.’

After viewing the vision from the alleged incident, Furner formed the view the players had done nothing wrong – and believes both footy stars are now well within their rights to sue ACT police. 

‘We went to the police and DPP several times, requesting a reasonable explanation as to why they were taken out of a nightclub in the first place and arrested, and why the matter was progressing to court,’ Furner said.

‘We wanted to know if something had happened off camera. We take player misbehaviour seriously and wanted to get to the bottom of the matter.

The pair are pictured together, on the night of their alleged fight in February which resulted in both men being arrested

‘When we did hear back…’I showed that letter to our board and several solicitors we know, and they had never seen a request like it. 

‘The police and DPP had multiple chances to save costs and embarrassment. But their arrogance and the dishonesty of the ACT Police were their undoing.’

Furner added that NRL stars ‘don’t ask for special treatment’ and deserve to be ‘treated like normal members of the public.’

‘But to march Jack up a set of stairs with his hands behind his back, pushing him against a wall, and for absolutely nothing…it was an easy narrative for them on the night,’ he said.

‘I’m actually so glad they got found out in such a spectacular way.’