A former NRL player and reality TV star has pleaded guilty to damaging a Sydney hotel room, an incident his lawyer told a court may be linked to an underlying mental health issue.
Daniel Conn, 38, was arrested in Sydney’s CBD in February after police were called to a Market St hotel following reports “a man had allegedly damaged a door”.
At Downing Centre Local Court on Wednesday, a lawyer entered a guilty plea on Conn’s behalf to a charge of intentionally or recklessly destroying or damaging property.
Conn’s lawyer foreshadowed the potential for a section 14 application to run at the next court date, pointing to the presence of an underlying mental health issue.
Under a section 14 order, a magistrate can deal with a matter without imposing a fine or custodial sentence for someone with a proven cognitive issue or mental health problem.
Court documents state the former first grader damaged a wall, door, mini bar fridge and kettle at the Swissotel on Market St in February.
In a statement, NSW Police said officers were called to the hotel about 9.30pm “following reports a man had allegedly damaged a door”.
“Officers attached to Sydney City Police Area Command arrived and arrested a 38-year-old man,” the statement said.
“He was taken to Day Street Police Station where he was charged with destroy or damage property.”
Conn did not appear in the courtroom on Wednesday and he was contacted for comment.
His lawyer, William Slattery, declined to comment on the matter while it remained before the court.
The former footballer has been on bail since the incident and lives at Burleigh in Queensland.
Conn is active on social media where he has amassed almost 250,000 followers on Instagram and posts about his fitness and sporting endeavours.
One day after the incident, he posted a video to his Instagram page showing a rat lunging for him while standing in skate bowl at Bondi.
A few days earlier he shared pictures of him in an ice bath on a rural property with the caption “manifesting all that good stuff”.
He played 59 games in the NRL for Canterbury, the Gold Coast and Sydney Roosters respectively before retiring at age 25 in 2011 due to a serious neck injury.
Post footy, Conn has modelled and featured in reality programs Geordie Shore and Ex On the Beach owing to his former relationship with British star Vicky Pattison.
The former lock and back rower has found himself in the courts for damaging property before, when he scratched up the window of a Sydney gym in 2019.
Conn pleaded guilty and later admitted to breaching a related AVO with his former boss at the Hustle Boxing Gym in Potts Point.
In 2008, he was fined $5000 in a Queensland court after confessing to faking painkiller prescriptions while playing for the Gold Coast Titans.
Conn has spoken openly about his mental health battles, both during his career and in the years since his retirement from top level rugby league.
He will next face court on May 29.
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