Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
- Sydney Roosters star Sandon Smith was sentenced on Friday
- The 22-year-old pleaded guilty to serious traffic offences
Sydney Roosters playmaker Sandon Smith has avoided a conviction after his careless driving left a pedestrian with serious injuries that saw two of his toes amputated.
Smith, 22, was given a two-year conditional discharge order on Friday after pleading guilty to careless driving causing grievous bodily harm.
The NRL the player is remorseful and has apologized several times in the nine months since the March 13 incident, his lawyer David Newham said.
“It was a terrible … freak accident that Mr Smith feels terrible about,” Mr Newham told Sydney’s Downing Center Local Court.
“There was no recklessness and he apologized sincerely to the gentleman who was seriously injured.”
Smith was on his way to a tough training session at Allianz Stadium in Sydney’s east, backing the Audi A5 out of the driveway at the Vaucluse home he was renting from a friend.
Sandon Smith was pictured outside a Sydney court on Friday shortly before he was sentenced after pleading guilty to careless driving causing grievous bodily harm
The Sydney Roosters star (pictured playing last season) crashed his car into another vehicle pinning a man’s leg to the ground
His view was obscured by a tinted black Range Rover, a Pantech truck and a tree.
A Toyota Kluger traveling on Old South Head Road hit his Audi, sending him into another car that pinned a man’s leg as he was getting his son out the back.
Mr Newham told the court Smith had technically failed to fulfill his responsibilities as a reasonable driver.
“In the real world, of course … he did what most people would do in the circumstances,” he said.
“He didn’t shoot out like a bat out of hell, for example,” Mr Newham told the court.
Smith was collecting his thoughts after the crash when he heard the man screaming and went to help free him, Mr Newham told the court.
Police prosecutor Adrian Walsh said it was accepted the incident was a “series of most unfortunate events”.
“However, these events will have a long-lasting and significant adverse impact on the victim’s life,” Sgt Walsh told the court.
“He spent eight weeks in hospital with a lot of broken and broken bones,” he said.
He lost two toes and most of the feeling in his right foot, Sgt Walsh added, providing the court with a gruesome photo of the man’s injuries, showing bones through an open wound from heel to toes.
Smith (pictured after a game against Canberra) rushed to the man’s aid when he heard his screams after the crash on March 13 this year
The court also received character recommendations from Roosters chairman Nick Politis and head coach Trent Robinson.
Magistrate Scott Nash imposed a two-year non-conviction conditional discharge order on Smith.
Smith was charged in September, days after the Roosters’ qualifying final loss to Penrith.
But the NRL’s integrity department was not informed of the incident until the eve of Smith’s court hearing.
Smith has emerged as a crucial part of the Roosters’ 2025 squad, set to take charge of the team’s attack following the departure of veteran playmaker Luke Carey and the long-term injury to regular halfback Sam Walker.
Already backed to start at fly-half following Keary’s decision to retire from the NRL, his value rose when Walker tore his cruciate ligament in August.
When he made his debut in June 2023, Smith was the first player from the club’s Central Coast pathway program to play an NRL match for the Roosters, playing 15 games that year and appearing in a further 14 in the 2024 campaign.
